Rebirth of the Straw Hat
by RWBYpiece
Summary: As one life ends, another is born anew. Now under the name Luffy D. Branwen, he makes his way through a foreign world with a new ambition, to become the Huntsman with the most freedom.
1. A Straw Hat Reborn

**A.N : This is my first story ever made. The idea for this story has been inspired by the crossovers "Naruto the Scythe Master" by fairy tale dragon slayer and "Tsuna Schnee" by NonaryNathan999.**

 **P.S : I couldn't find the date of birth for Ruby, so I stuck with the date of her first introduction in the "Red" trailer, November 5.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 1**

"These weapons are so awesome!" came the voice of a 15 year old boy with short and messy raven hair and round black eyes, though at the moment they seem to have stars in them.

He has a scrawny but well built physique, and peach skin complexion with the inclusion of a scar with two stitches under his left eye. He wears a sleeveless maroon colored hoodie currently zipped up, black cargo shorts with a yellow sash wrapped around the belt and a holster to carry a foot long rod, a pair of sandals, and a straw hat.

The rod itself is blue with four lines that glow in colors of red, light blue, yellow, and mint green along the shaft with small buttons next them, and it appears to be hollow.

The young man is named Luffy D. Branwen, or at least in this life. He also has memories of when he was named Monkey D. Luffy, the Straw Hat Pirates captain and at this point the former Pirate King.

He doesn't know how this "being reborn" stuff works, but he is willing to enjoy the new life that was given to him with his new family.

He never knew his real parents in this life, but was adopted by a Qrow Branwen to be his son. The idea of having someone that would actually play the role of a parent was still new to him, as he never knew anything about his old mom and dad except for the father's name and occupation.

"I know right! By the way, do you need any dust for your Clima-Tact?" came the sound of Ruby Rose, Luffy's cousin-in-law of the similar age being six months younger, as she is gesturing to the rod he is equipped with.

She stands at a 5'2, with Luffy being taller than her at 5'7, with a pale complexion and has shoulder length black hair with a red tint and red tips that frame the right side of her face, which show a pair of round silver eyes. Her outfit consists of a red cloak, black blouse, skirt, and cincher that have red on the laces of the cincher and trimmings on the skirt. She also wears a belt around the waist that holds cartridges, an ammo pouch, and a rose emblem all in silver. She also sports a pair of black leggings and combat boots with red soles and laces. Her weapon, a hybrid of a sniper and a scythe called Crescent Rose is magnetically holstered to the back of her waist.

They are currently in a shop called "From Dust Till Dawn" looking at weapon magazines in the back corner. They convinced Ruby's dad to let them visit the city of Vale, where they can do some shopping. It was currently nighttime, but the duo got a little carried away upon seeing the "Weapon Highlights" magazines.

"Hmm, no I'm good, the only time I use this thing is when I use my semblance. Oh, when are we going to eat, I'm starving?" Luffy stated followed by a common question that Ruby got used to.

He only really relied on punching and kicking, so he doesn't use his weapon as often.

While this foreign world is more technologically advanced than his old one, the residents also have a form of energy that manifests from the soul called Aura along with an unique ability called a semblance, an energy source known as Dust, the creatures of darkness that hunt humanity to extinction named Grimm, and the fact that almost every weapon has a gun attached into its design somewhere.

There was even another race of people with animal traits called faunus, which remind him of the Mink Tribe.

That aside, after a certain incident in his life when he was five, the memories of his past life came rushing back to him.

"Luffy, you're always starving, you ate just before going to Vale, and that was a few hours ago." Ruby commented dryly, not paying any attention to the newcomers that entered the store.

How he can devour more food than the entire family altogether, she will never know except for the fact that his stomach may as well be a black hole. She had to make sure that Luffy didn't get a hold of any money, since it would've went to just food rather than more important things.

His irresponsibility also lead to him not owning a scroll, since he may more than likely lose it somehow. This also lead to Ruby being a bit more mature at points, as it felt like she was babysitting him even if he was older than her by six months.

"Oh, but I'm still hungry." the straw hat boy whined. Ruby can only sigh at his complaints.

"We can go somewhere to eat after this, but only if you bake me a batch of cookies along with everyone else's dinner." Ruby said with a smirk.

She would use this chance to request something in return, since he would do anything to get an extra bit of food. Not only that, the odds are likely that they would spend the rest of the money on hand solely on Luffy's appetite.

"Geez, its like you are abusing my semblance just so you can have cookies, and you think I eat a lot." Luffy pouts at her for the exchange.

"So are you done shopping here or what?" He says with a sound of impatience. He wants to fill himself up as soon as possible.

"Yeah, I already stocked up on ammo, since I ran out when I was fighting those Beowolves." Ruby replied with a sigh.

She was just visiting her mom's grave when they appeared, and she spent all that ammunition to decimate the horde.

"Shishishi, you shoot way too much Ruby, you need to swing harder if you want to stop running out. Maybe you can learn how to fistfight so your arms get stronger?" Luffy suggested with a grin as he points out the redhead's flaws.

She can lift and swing the scythe no problem, it's just that she relies on the recoil of the sniper to tear the Grimm apart. If she had better arm strength, she wouldn't have that problem in the first place.

"I'll do just fine with the way I fight with my sweetheart, thank you very much!" Ruby rejected with an adorable pout.

It just didn't suit her to start using her fists, even if it may help with her arm strength. Besides, she likes the feeling of using her 'sweetheart' in battle.

Luffy just shrugs his shoulders and continues looking through the weapon art with a twinkle in his eyes, not wanting to force someone to do something they don't want to do.

They continued looking through the reading materials until Luffy sensed a presence approaching them from behind them with **Kenbunshoku Haki** ( _Color of Observation_ ).

"Oi Ruby, someone's coming." he warns her calmly.

He is pretty thankful for being able to re-unlock his Haki in this world. At the early age of 7, two years after recovering his memories, he decided to go all out in training to return to normal fighting strength with the help of Qrow, which meant that he had Ruby as a sparring partner.

Although his semblance, which he discovered later, just added more to the amount of training. However, his body is still a bit weaker than his previous one so he's limited on what he could manage. Sadly, he also lost the insanely high resistance to poisons as well.

Aside from all of that, he may possibly be the first Haki user in Remnant.

She nods in acknowledgement, as she and the rest of her family have known about his Haki. They both turn around to find a man in a black suit with a fedora pointing a gun at them.

"Hey, hands in the air where I can see them!" the man yells in a commanding tone. The seconds of silence afterwards was broken by a question from the pair.

"Are you trying to rob us?" they said with a straight face.

"What does it look like to you brats!" he shouted back. The duo looked to each other with a mischievous grin as they planned their next move. Ruby used her speed semblance to launch herself at the thug and sent them both towards the window.

Roman Torchwick, a top class criminal known for wearing a bowler hat on top of his orange hair that covers his right eye. His attire consists of white suit, black pants, and shoes. Holding to his weapon of choice which is a cane, he could be seen at the register inspecting a red Dust crystal before hearing glass break.

"Can someone see what that is about?" he groaned in exasperation at the possibility that someone is interfering with a robbery.

One of the grunts moves over to the now broken window to witness a young girl standing on top of his downed comrade.

" **Gomu Gomu no Pistol** "

The thug turns towards the source of the voice, only to see a stretched out arm heading towards him. The dumbfounded robber could only look in shock as the fist hit his abdomen, sending him outside with his unconscious comrade. No one else saw the stretching arm due to the shelves blocking their vision.

Luffy simply wears his traditional toothy grin as he jumps through the store window to regroup with his cousin, who is unfolding her scythe. They both turn to look at the rest of the robbers with a serious expression.

The orange haired criminal lets out a heavy sigh at the development in front of him.

All he asks is for one heist to go without a hitch, that's all.

"Well... don't just stand there like idiots, get them!" Torchwick commanded his henchmen to attack the duo.

Luffy and Ruby jump away from each other to give some breathing room to work with. It was their usual battle plan; simply staying out of the other's fights, waiting for the other to finish if either ended their own fight first, and only stepping in when they're beaten or an outside force wants to intrude.

The thugs split their numbers to attack both, not knowing that their opponents wanted that.

With Ruby, she once again launches herself at one of the enemies, this time using the recoil of her sniper to propel herself much more faster. Both boots land on his face and she jumps off of the makeshift springboard, then plants the end of her scythe on the ground to swing with the momentum and land a double heel kick on another grunt on the side of his face, sending him to the ground. Another grunt charges her, but before he could get in range, she touches the ground and twirls her weapon to slam the back end into his side, taking down another.

Meanwhile, Luffy, having a lot more baddies to deal with, jumps into the fray and throws a right at the first grunt in front of him. He turns to the next person and jumped to slam his knee into the second thug's jaw. Luffy swung his leg while in the air to kick him in the side, launching the guy to knock some others down.

The straw hat boy saw a blade heading his way and bent back in midair to dodge it. He planted his hands on the ground before he spun around, landing another kick to an unfortunate soul. The grunts decided to back off a bit as he returned to his fighting stance, fearing the scrawny boy's unexpected strength.

It really didn't take that much effort to take each of them down since they're so weak though, even for cannon fodder.

One decided to sneak up behind him and swing his sword, but Luffy senses the attack without visibly seeing it and ducks under the blade. He spins on one foot and trips the attacker with his other, causing him to land face first into the pavement.

Another approaches from the side and prepares to hit him with a metal club. Luffy stands back up but doesn't even try to dodge, as he raised his arm to block the strike.

Although the attack won't work anyways since he has a rubber body.

" **Busoshoku: Koka** ( _Armament: Hardening_ )"

The raised arm shifts from peach skin to a black metallic look that goes up to his elbow. The club connects, but to the astonishment of the offender the weapon dented itself upon impact. Luffy pushes back the damaged weapon and prepares to swing his leg.

" **Gomu Gomu no Muchi** ( _Whip_ )" he swings his outstretched limb in a wide arc to take out the rest of his opponents out.

Torchwick looks on in surprise by the event that prompts him to ask the weird kid what seems like the most obvious question.

"Okay, what the hell was that!?"

"Shishishi, I ate the Gum Gum fruit, and now I'm a rubber man. See?" Luffy answers and then emphasizes his point by stretching his cheeks out to impossible lengths before snapping them back into place.

He can recall the day he got it back.

* * *

Nine year old Luffy was walking though town with Qrow on an errand to get groceries before talk of a traveling salesman invaded their ears. Being the curious boy that he is, Luffy wanted to meet the man.

Qrow was a man with black spiky hair that is graying out along with red eyes and his scythe in sword form holstered on the back waist like Ruby has with her Crescent Rose. He wears a grey dress shirt with black dress pants and shoes, as well as a red tattered cape and a crooked cross shaped pendant.

When they found him, the salesman came across as a shady type with his red trench coat hiding everything underneath it, a matching pointy hat, and a large backpack. His face was mostly covered, the only thing the two could see were his eyes.

Luffy approached him with no sense of danger while Qrow stood close by, unable to gauge the mysterious person's intentions.

"What do we have here?" came the deep voice of the salesman as he regarded the boy's presence with interest. Luffy just stands in place staring up at him in silence.

"Hey, old man. What are you selling?" Luffy asked, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Don't be rude, kid." Qrow chided as he gave a soft bop on the head for lack of manners. The salesman chuckled in response.

"To answer his question, I bear many oddities that I come across in my travels." he replied, getting Luffy's attention at the mention of adventuring.

"An adventurer as well as a treasure hunter, huh? I'll admit, you have guts for combing through Grimm infested territory just to make a living." Qrow remarked.

"Well, I can handle myself in a fight. But enough about me..." he said as he reaches into one of the pouches on his backpack. When he pulled out a purple fruit with swirls, Luffy was wide eyed in shock of what he was seeing. Qrow, however, raised a brow at the strange fruit.

"I'm feeling rather generous today, so I'm willing to part with this exotic fruit at no charge." the mysterious man offered. This rose some alarms in Qrow as he got a bad feeling about this. He whipped his head to his adoptive son and found himself stunned with Luffy's expression.

He would've figured that the boy would be starry eyed at the sight, but he was not expecting absolute astonishment. It was as if Luffy knew what it was exactly yet was surprised to find it out here.

"Can't really call it business unless you get something out of it. If it's not money, then what?" Qrow asked in rising suspicion.

"...Enjoyment." he replied, causing Qrow to stare in confusion of the vague answer. Luffy ignored the exchange as he took the fruit from the stranger's hand.

"I don't know where you got this, but if I'm going to protect what I have left then I might need this." Luffy accepted with a serious expression. Qrow was at a lost of what he's talking about.

How can a fruit help make him stronger?

"I see... in any event, it was a pleasure to meet the both of you." the salesman said, feeling pleased with the boy's words. The man left and merged with the crowd, eventually disappearing from their line of sight.

"See kid, this is why you don't talk to strangers. Some of them give you fruits that could be bad for you." Qrow spoke wisely, but it fell on deaf ears as Luffy already took a bite out of the fruit.

"Bleck! The taste is so nasty." Luffy said, causing Qrow to facepalm himself.

'Dammit... he just had to think with his stomach.' he thought in exasperation. He was about to scold the boy before he was introduced the the sight of Luffy pulling his cheeks apart.

The scythe wielder stood frozen at what he witnessed his kid messing with his stretchy body.

"I'm obviously not drunk enough." he muttered.

* * *

Luffy's mind came back to reality to see the criminal staring at him with disbelieving eyes.

'What the hell is a Gum Gum fruit!? Wait, he got that weird ability by eating something _..._ that doesn't make any sense!' He ranted in his thoughts with a twitching eye as he pushes the questions to the back of his mind to avoid a headache then sends his gaze towards his fallen comrades.

"You were worth every cent, truly you were." He shakes his head in disappointment.

They couldn't even put up a fight against two youngsters... that's pretty sad.

"Wow, you must be broke, cuz those guys were really weak." Luffy stated bluntly, stating his opinion on the strength of the criminal's workers while not getting the sarcastic tone being used. Ruby joins him and nods her head in agreement to that.

"As much as I like to stick around a little longer, business beckons me to make an exit. With that, I bid you adieu Red... Straw Hat." Torchwick said in a gentlemanly manner while pointing his cane at the duo as if aiming to shoot something.

Surely enough, two volatile projectiles comes out of the barrel and heads straight at them.

Luffy tilts his head to the side to dodge the first shot, then steps in front of Ruby in protectiveness and used the same black arm to bat the projectile aside with the back of his hand, the flare exploding the concrete behind them.

"I could've dodged that." Ruby mumbled under her breath with half-lidded eyes staring at Luffy's back.

She doesn't needed to be treated like a damsel in distress, as much as she admires the fact that Luffy would put himself in harms way to protect those he cares about.

Luffy then realizes what he just witnessed and can't help but look in awe.

"AWESOME! That stick thing can shoot things! What else can it do?" he says in childish excitement. He is easily amazed by a large portion of weapons he gets to see in action.

Everyone, including Torchwick, sweatdropped at the young boy's sudden change in demeanor.

'Well that was a thing.' Torchwick thought upon witnessing an odd way to deflect the explosive round.

No one just uses their bare hands to do something as crazy as that!

He takes aim again, this time at the ground in front of the pair, and fires another round.

Using her semblance, Ruby dashes away from the spot to avoid the blast, while Luffy pumps his legs to enter **Second Gear** , giving his body a reddish tint that produces steam, and disappears from sight, the blast having no effect, much to the shock of the marksman.

Before Torchwick can do anything else, Luffy stops in front of him with his left palm facing him and his right fist cocked back, still covered in Armament.

" **Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol!** " he shouts as the blur of a punch slams into Roman's chest, causing him to cough up a little blood before being sent flying back first into a wall, cratering it. He quickly recovers, but feels immense pain in his chest.

'What was with that punch! The pain shouldn't be _this_ bad since I was using aura.' He thought in confusion. That definitely felt like it cracked one of his ribs. After getting over the pain, he heads toward the ladder that lead to the rooftops. Luffy returns to his normal skin tone and sees him making an escape.

"Ah! Girly Man is trying to get away!" the straw hat boy exclaimed.

Ruby sweatdrops at the nickname for the notorious criminal before looking over to the dust shop and asks the old man that runs it.

"Would you be alright if we chased him down?"

The old man slowly nodded his head, still shaken from the attempted robbery. She nods in confirmation then turns to her cousin.

"Okay, lets go!"

Before they could get close to the ladder, reinforcements entered the scene to the block the way.

"We're gonna lose him at this rate. Luffy, do you think you can-" she was cut off when Luffy walks up to them and exerted his will over them with **Haoshoku Haki** ( _Color of the Conqueror King_ ), causing them to fall unconscious with foam in their mouths.

"Nevermind, forget I was asking." She finished in a muttered tone. She was a bit envious of Luffy having such a useful ability available to him. Hardening limbs, brief premonition, sensing other presences like a portable radar, and knocking out people with so much as a glance. He's not even using aura at all.

Upon reaching the side of the building, Ruby shoots herself upward using the recoil to gain enough height to reach the top, while Luffy grabs the ledge by stretching his arm and pulls himself over. When they reached the rooftop, they were greeted by the sight of Roman entering a bullhead that was taking off.

"Oi, get back here and fight like a man, Girly Man!" Luffy shouts over the sounds of the flying vehicle's thrusters.

A tickmark appears on Torchwick's head as he hears the demeaning nickname, but maintains his composure.

"Call it a strategic retreat Straw Hat, maybe you should-" He was cut off by the sound of a sniper round that whizzed by his head by mere inches that belonged to the almost forgotten redhead.

"Well Red, that was rude of you to interrupt. As I was saying, maybe you should BOTH buzz off." Upon threatening them, he pulls out a red dust crystal from his pocket and tosses it at them. While the crystal was in midflight, he shoots another round aiming to hit the object.

The duo see this, as they brace themselves for the upcoming explosion... only not to feel it. They stared in awe of a new arrival that projected a defensive barrier in front them.

Said arrival is a middle aged woman with bright blonde hair tied in a bun, green eyes through a pair of oval shaped glasses, and gives of the aura of the "stern librarian". She wears a white long sleeved dress shirt with a black business skirt, black-brown leggings, a tattered cape with the inside being purple, and a pair of black boots with brown heels.

Ruby couldn't help but give a fangirl squeal at the sight of her.

"OH MY GOSH, that's Glynda Goodwitch, an actual huntress!" Ruby exclaimed in fan-like awe.

It was always her dream to be a great huntress, and now she's in the face of one of great renown. Luffy was just staring out of childish glee at seeing what looks like a magician performing magic tricks.

Torchwick lets out a 'tch' before moving to the cockpit of the bullhead to warn his collaborator.

"Hey, we got a huntress on our tail now!" He informs her as they switch positions, Torchwick at the controls and the mysterious woman to deal with the nuisance.

She comes into view with a red dress that seems to have a bit of a sinister glow, the shadows doing well to hide her face except for her eyes that almost seem like they're on fire. From the side opening of the bullhead staring down on the trio, she generates ball of fire in her hands and shoots it at them, only to be countered by Glynda's use of dust manipulation.

"That Mystery Lady can make fire out of thin air." Luffy mumbles to himself with a heated glare to who he would now dub the Mystery Lady. He doesn't like the fact that someone is using something that resembles Ace's devil fruit for malicious intentions, not wanting it to tarnish the memory of his brother.

The clash between two skilled dust users continues until it finally ended in a stalemate. Glynda then conjures a storm cloud above the bullhead, only for ice shards to fall out of the cloud, buffeting the airborne object. After a few moments of instability from the hailstorm, the Mystery Lady blasts a wave of heat to melt the ice.

Ruby takes the momentary stop of the battle as an opportunity to switch her scythe to its compact form and starts shooting the Mystery Lady, who is blocking the bullets with one hand.

"Luffy, now would be a really good time to use your semblance right about now!" she calls out to her cousin, to which he nodded his head in agreement. She would keep on firing to distract her opponent to give him time to set up the next attack.

Luffy focuses on activating his semblance, the only sign of activation being a blue glow in the form of a tattoo on the back of his right hand. The tattoo itself looked like a pinwheel with a mikan on one of the ends.

" **Memory Bond: Navigator** "

His pirate crew may not be with him physically, but they're with him in spirit, literally. Luffy's semblance allows him to 'bond' his memories with the memories of one of his crew members. With memories includes knowledge, for when he does this, he gains the knowledge of whatever valuable skills that may be of use to him while maintaining his own battle prowess and personality.

It stems from Luffy's admittance that he would not have lived without the help of his friends, his crew.

The only drawbacks are that he has to constantly use Aura to maintain a link, and he can only link to one member at a time. Plus, once he disconnects the bond, which deactivates the use of his semblance, the information immediately fades out of his mind.

Basically, it made him from a complete idiot in everything not related to using his current abilities to a very versatile adversary, and vice versa.

But since his old world never had aura, there was no way of knowing how to use it, hence the extra training.

It's also one of the few semblances that doesn't necessarily manifest in physical form, but through the mind, making it really difficult to tell if he's using it.

With Nami's knowledge of weather forecasting now in his mind, he takes out his Clima-Tact and presses the button next to the light blue line.

" **Cool Ball...Heat Ball** " he swings the rod creating a series of bubbles containing cold air and sending it in the air and quickly switches to the red line button to repeat the same action, except creating bubbles filled with heat. The bubbles of hot and cold air come together to make an actual thundercloud over the slightly stable bullhead.

" **Thunderbolt Tempo!** " he finishes up the storm that he was brewing by switching to use the yellow dust and send a static charge to the cloud.

The result... a bolt of lightning came down upon the surprised escapists, shocking it to the point where one of the thrusters burst into flames and smoke. Glynda was also a bit surprised at the display of _creating_ weather by using dust.

While she just made a cloud to shoot ice shards, he made a legitimate cloud through natural process along with causing a lightning strike.

Meanwhile, Torchwick gritted his teeth in agitation, trying to keep the hunk of metal in the sky. The Mystery Lady was glaring at the troublesome kid and decides to launch an enormous fire ball at the rooftop. Glynda, Ruby, and Luffy jumped back to avoid the explosion that covered most of the roof.

This gave them enough time to stabilize the bullhead and took off before the trio can resume their assault.

"Damn, they got away." the raven haired teen said as he deactivates his semblance and watches the robbers make their escape. He would chase them down, but he didn't want to leave Ruby behind. Speaking of which...

"Can I have your autograph?" She says in cheerful glee asking a full fledged huntress for a signature.

Glynda just stares at the two and sternly tells them "Both of you will be coming with me!"

Ruby flinched at the tone that left no room for argument. Suddenly, Luffy had a question of his own.

"Can we go eat first? I'm so hungry!" he asks in a pleading tone, only to be given answer in the form of Ruby's facepalm and Glynda's scowl for his short attention span.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **How did you like the chapter? What do think of Luffy's Semblance? Please leave reviews for feedback, as this is my first story ever.**

 **As far as pairings, I have a one-sided pairing in mind, but I can't make up my mind as to who.**

 **Updated as of November 7, 2016 : After considering how random he got his devil fruit the first time I wrote this chapter, I decided to revise the idea by including an unnamed character which would affect other chapters that bring up this topic.**

 **Will it still be random? Maybe... but this is simply an attempt to be rid of some of the randomness behind a present.**


	2. Interrogation

**A.N : I thank you for any personal input and suggestions that you put out there. There are some matters that have come to light about the story, so let me address them.**

 **Other Straw Hats - I didn't plan to have other crew members in the story, but I decided to add only one other member, so Luffy's semblance will be cut one member short. Although there is a possibility for other One Piece characters outside the Straw Hats.**

 **Teams - He is not going to be in a four man team. Over the course of the story, Luffy will be strong enough to handle a 1v4 scenario in the Vytal Festival. His semblance pretty much makes him a swiss army knife.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Today has been full of odd happenings for our redhead, Ruby. At first it was all good, spending time with Luffy, shopping at her favorite store, even stopping a robbery. Then it went downhill as the both of them have been dragged over to the police department by Glynda for what seems like an interrogation given the room they're in.

All it had was a single table, a few chairs, and a lone lamp hanging above to bring light to this silent space. The only sounds that can be heard were the clicks of the huntress' boots as she paces the room and her cousin sitting next to her... sleeping.

Glynda stopped pacing to cast her gaze at the snoring boy with narrowed eyes. She walks up to him with her riding crop at the ready, and snaps it on the table. This seems to do the trick as Luffy sprung awake with tired eyes.

"Wake up! This is not the time to take a nap young man!" she snaps at him with a tone of anger. The boy doesn't seem to realize the situation he is in.

"Huh, is it time to eat yet? I'm so hungry, I can eat a house made out of meat right now." Luffy whines while trying to shake the sleep off.

Glynda scowls at the lack of attention and seriousness he is displaying. She brings her attention to the both of them and starts scolding them.

"You realize that your actions today endangered the lives of innocents." She states in a harsh tone.

"They started it!" Ruby countered.

"Yeah, they pulled a gun on us!" Luffy continued with the counter argument. They were the ones held at gunpoint. So naturally, they had the right to defend themselves from the threat.

Although it escalated from defense leading up to stopping the thieves.

"If it were up to me, I would send you home with a pat on the back... and slap on the wrist!" Glynda said as she snaps her weapon on the table again to emphasize her point. This rewarded her with a small 'eep' from Ruby and a blank stare from Luffy.

"However, there is someone else that would like to see you two." She continued with a calmer expression.

"Oh, you mean the one hiding behind the door?" Luffy asks Glynda with a curious look. She raises a brow out of her own curiosity of how he would know that there was someone behind the metal door at all.

As if on cue, the door to the room opens up to reveal a middle aged man with gray hair, spectacles over his thin brown eyes, along with sharp facial features. He wears a black suit with a green undershirt that goes with his dark green pants and scarf, and a pair of black shoes.

He brings with him a food cart holding a plate filled with cookies and another piled with a vast assortment of meats, much to the duo's delight. A coffee mug can be seen in his hand, as it practically never leaves his grip.

The delectable food was placed on the table in front of them, gesturing them that it was theirs to consume.

"Ruby Rose" the man starts off "... you have... silver eyes."

Ruby, for her part, just tries to avoid his gaze at the awkward comment. Luffy finished up his snack as this was going on, much to the shock of Glynda.

The plate of meat had a lot more to it than the cookies, yet he consumed it in mere moments.

She could only chalk it up to an insane metabolism.

"Ahhh... that was good! Thanks old man, at least you give me food. That mean glasses lady wouldn't even let us eat before coming here." Luffy says with a sulk aimed at Glynda, who narrowed her eyes at him.

"This _old man_ is Ozpin!" She interjected bitterly.

Now this insolent kid before her is showing total disrespect to others, how much worse can he be?

The man, now named Ozpin, gave an amused chuckle before getting to point of his visit.

"Now before we get sidetracked, where did you learn to do this?" He asks while pulling out a tablet sized scroll and showing the video feed of the fight outside the shop.

There were several clips showing key points of the fight itself, some of Ruby's scythe wielding skills and the majority showing Luffy's variety of abilities.

For the most part, he needed to know about the enigma that was Luffy.

They both take a look through the video, each with their own thoughts.

'Huh... didn't know there were cameras around the place.' Ruby pondered.

"Cool! You watched us take out those jerks with this thing!" Luffy said voicing his own thoughts on the matter.

Ruby left her train of thought and answered "Uh... Signal Academy."

She knew who he was, but still wondered what brings him here, much less ask such a question to a couple students.

"They taught you how to wield one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed." the gray haired man replied with mild interest.

"Well, one person in particular." She says, and then remembers that there are still cookies to be devoured. So she picks one up to take a bite, only to slaughter the tasty treats, just not nearly as fast as Luffy.

During the consumption, she realized that he retrained himself from eating them before she could get one.

'I guess he can be a bit thoughtful at times.' She thought gratefully. Normally Luffy would devour everything in sight before you could blink.

"I see... there was just one other person I know that showed that level of skill. A dusty old Qrow?" He inquired.

The pair's faces adopted a look of realization as they knew who he's referring to. Ruby couldn't speak coherently with her mouth full of cookies, but Luffy was able to respond.

"Eh! You know about my dad!" He shouts in shock and surprise. His dad never said anything about any friends, so he was a bit shocked at the revelation. The adult's eyes widened at the statement.

Glynda decided to speak up "Wait, you're saying that man is your father?" She knows of him as well, but never expected this, especially from an alcoholic. Luffy nodded his head in confirmation.

"Really? I never knew he actually had a son." Ozpin said in a tone that showed he was just as surprised. He couldn't believe he was kept in the dark about something as important as this, even from an old friend.

Perhaps the thought of telling slipped Qrow's mind, he wouldn't know, but he would need to get in touch with him about their fateful meeting.

Ruby finally swallowed the goodies and muttered an apology for rude manners and then decided to speak on Luffy's behalf.

"Well, not exactly... Luffy was adopted. They're not related in any way. But yeah, that's my uncle. He's a professor at Signal." she softly points out for them to clear the confusion the adults held.

"So by law, that makes you both cousins?" Ozpin guessed, only to receive a reply in the form of thoughtful looks from the two.

"Not exactly. I'm not related to uncle Qrow either, so I guess cousins-in-spirit." Ruby explained with uncertainty.

"Anyway, I was total garbage before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all like WACHA!" she explained by doing silly hand gestures with Luffy chuckling at her antics.

"I've always wanted to be like the heroes from the story books that my family reads to me. So I thought 'Hey maybe I can make a living out of helping others'. So that's why I wanted to be a huntress, to help those that can't do it for themselves." Ruby finishes her story as she casts a glance at Luffy with a saddened expression.

'Among other things.' She solemnly thought, memories of a certain tragedy coming to mind.

The two adults see the sullen expression, but decided against prying on the matter, as it looked like something personal.

Ozpin heard enough answers from one potential candidate, now to question the other individual's strange abilities and his motives, assuming he is also in Signal.

"Now then mister..." he starts while trying to get the name of the straw hat boy.

"Oh, I'm Luffy." he answered the unsaid question with a toothy grin.

"... Luffy, could you take the time to explain these peculiar abilities that you have shown thus far?" Ozpin inquired, trying to get a grasp on the boy's strength. The actions he displayed on screen were something that truly intrigued him, as this was the first time seeing it.

"Hmmm... It'll be hard for _me_ to explain really well, but I know someone who can." Before they can ask what he meant, Luffy activated his semblance. This time with a light purple glow on his hand that looks like a symbol of a tome.

" **Memory Bond: Archaeologist** "

Now that he has access to Robin's vast amount of information about his old world, he can answer some questions with more clarity rather than give very vague ones. Chances are that he may not need it, but he'd feel better off utilizing her knowledge than relying on his own.

He is going to put his trust in this man and give him the full version of the explanation, since he has basically offered tribute in the form of meat.

This was the bond he would go to when he needed to do schoolwork in Signal, which is how he's sort of passing the classes. Even with all that intelligence, he can only be very smart as far as common academics.

But when faced with subjects that are only existent in Remnant like aura manipulation and dust, it's not that much help since Robin was never in this world to learn about it, which Qrow had to tutor him for.

"Yosh, now I can answer those questions, Ozzy." Luffy said in a tone of confidence.

Ozpin and Glynda shared questioning looks as they ignored the new nickname, as if they did not notice any changes. Ruby catches on to this and decides to explain the event.

"What you're seeing is his semblance. It allows him to bond his own memories with the other spirits inside of himself. So he becomes smarter in certain subjects when he does this. The symbol on his hand is proof that it's been activated." She explained, not wanting to reveal to them that Luffy is the incarnate of a powerful pirate and the said spirits being his old crew.

As much as she trusts Ozpin, it wouldn't bode well to tell them that piece of info. Besides, it was hard enough for her to wrap her head around the unbelievable subject.

Ozpin lets out a hum for the explanation, as he is curious as to what these 'spirits' that she mentioned are but decided against asking. If they didn't tell him that, then it was either a very well kept secret or only known to only family and a select number of trusted individuals, with the latter being more than likely as Luffy doesn't look like he can hold a secret and the fact that Ruby knows of it.

Unbeknownst to them, no matter how much Luffy searched, there seemed to be one crew member missing, so he only has seven possible memory bonds. He doesn't know what this could mean or why it's like that, but it still aggravated him that his crew is left incomplete.

"'Memory Bond'... and you categorize them based on occupation. So far, you have shown 'Navigator', and now 'Archaeologist'. But why bond with that one specifically?" Glynda inquired after she concluded some of its workings.

It would explain the thunderbolt he created since navigators are supposed to be familiar with weather patterns, but how does a scientist of history help answer questions that hold no bearing to the distant past.

As if reading her thoughts, Luffy elaborated "My friend, Robin, may be into history, but she's by far one of the smartest people I know when it comes to a lot of other things."

In all honesty, Robin was more of a scholar, but she still considers herself an archaeologist.

'So these spirits have names. They must've existed at some point in his life. Given how he knows them that well, they must be really important to him.' Ozpin pondered, scanning for any little details to paint a better picture. Being in a position of political clout gives him the experience to do such things with ease.

Luffy takes the scroll and skims through the videos, trying to figure out a good starting point. He stops at the video that shows him stretching his limbs.

"So, that would be me using my devil fruit called the Gum Gum fruit. It turned my body to the point that I'm made of rubber, although I lost the ability to swim forever." Luffy started off. The two adults raised a brow in surprise of the drawback. He gets a bizarre power, yet the only payment is that he can't swim from now on?

"The devil fruits come in three types: Paramecia, Zoan, and Logia. Paramecia are the ones that change your body like mine or affect the area around you like creating doors and such."

"Zoans are the ones that give you animal traits like being a leopard or a reindeer."

"And then there are Logia which turn your body to an element of nature itself like fire or light." He starts off with the more easily explained matter, since he had this sort of ability as long as he can remember.

He then points to the three different videos, showing his blackened arm, dodging attacks with very little effort, and the sudden knockout before they reached the roof.

"All of those things were from Haki. It's this sort of power that is in all living things, but we don't even notice its existence since it comes from your own will. There are three different types: Observation, Armament, and Conqueror." Luffy said.

The two didn't show it, but they were beyond shocked that there's another power that any person could learn. But why was it that no one else has it?

"Observation lets me sense the 'voices' of other living things as well as see an attack before it is made, even if it is out of sight."

"Armament is pretty much like wearing armor over yourself to mostly protect yourself or hit harder, but its not like this Aura you use since it's created through willpower."

"Conqueror Haki is the rarest type that only a small number of people can use, but it allows you to exert your will over others. If they are very weak, then they fall unconscious. But there are times when it is resisted or ignored. Is that all the questions you have? Using my semblance can be exhausting and I get a headache with all this thinking." Luffy debriefed to them about the unique power from his world as he rubbed his head.

Luffy was never one to think really hard on anything, so whenever he talks, he tends to voice out whatever thoughts he had at the moment.

"I'll try to keep this brief. When you say you can't swim, does that just go as far as deep water or are there other limitations? Where can one get a devil fruit in the first place? And this 'Haki' you mentioned, since it comes from your will, can anyone else learn it?" Ozpin said with incredible interest. In all his years, he only heard odd things that are going on in the other kingdoms, so maybe the two are connected in some way.

Meanwhile, Glynda was stuck in her own train of thought.

'These Zoan devil fruits sound a lot like the faunus. But as far as I know, the faunus have shown that they can swim.' The professor gathered.

Ruby for her part was stifling a giggle from Luffy having to deal with all the questions. At least they are off the subject about Luffy himself.

Surprisingly enough, neither made mention about the odd occurrence of Haki or Devil Fruits. Even though they might have their suspicions, they also seem a bit open minded.

Luffy was in the middle of racking his head as he organized the inquiries, though he appears to be straining if his red face scrunched up in thought were any indication. After he finally got his thoughts together, he replied.

"Okay, while we can't swim, if we're in shallow water then we would get weaker. I got my devil fruit from this salesman, but he never told me how he got it. And yeah, anyone can be trained in Observation and Armament, but not Conqueror, it's just that people die so young before they can use it." he sighed after the strenuous effort of mental activity.

Ozpin rubs his chin as he puts the info into memory, not at all disturbed by that last comment on Haki. The mention of the salesman piqued his curiosity, questions of where this man came from exactly or why he's giving out these fruits were coming to mind.

He's done with the poking and prodding, but has one last question.

"Now, you don't need your semblance for this question and this will be the last one, I assure you. Why do _you_ want to be a huntsman, what is it that you search for?"

Luffy lets out a sigh of relief for the fact he can deactivate his semblance, which he did already, and that he gets to go home soon.

"I want to be a huntsman for freedom. If I become a huntsman, then I get to explore the world and have a lot of adventures with my friends. Then there are those mission things that send you out to kill Grimm. Becoming a huntsman means more freedom to me, and I am going to be the one with the most of it. But with these Grimm around, they are trying to take not just mine, but everyone else's freedom to see the world." he said with a tone of determination and ambition.

There doesn't seem to be any pirates or One Piece in this world, even though he found it. Now that he completed his first dream, he can make another, so why not become someone that can explore the vast reaches of the planet and pave the way for humanity to expand civilization.

The four kingdoms, in a sense, are like a cage to those that live in them. They keep people in because the dark beasts prowl around outside of their walls. Luffy couldn't stand the thought of being confined, feeling suffocation due to the small amount of freedom you receive.

Ozpin smiles at the innocent reason for taking on an occupation that risks your very life. The boy looks like he knows that, but doesn't care as long as he's with his friends and follows his dream. He also has a peculiar way of looking at the threat of Grimm. Ozpin has all the info needed, and has come to a risky decision, but it's a risk he is willing to gamble on.

"Aside from my name, do you know of my position?" He asks, this time with Ruby answering.

"You're the headmaster of Beacon, the school we are trying to apply for." she said softly.

Luffy looks at Ozpin with wide eyes, clearly not taking the time to remember people he has never met before. The middle aged man smirks as he is about to give an offer to the two.

"Would you like to join Beacon this year? I feel that your current education would only be a waste of your time, when you can nurture your talents further in a more challenging environment." he stated. At their current level, he believes they can handle the difficulties of Beacon's courses, even if they are more challenging.

But that's what makes growing wondrous, being able to overcome obstacles in the face of adversity.

The two teens beamed at the proposal and looked at each other in excitement. They both nodded their heads confirming their individual consent then turned to face Ozpin.

"We would love to go!" Ruby said in uncontrollable glee. This was like a dream come true for her, it almost didn't seem real.

Ozpin casts a glance towards Glynda, who gives the look that says that she will go along with this.

"Well then, we will see you in Beacon." and with that Ruby and Luffy were free to leave the room.

Once it was just the two adults, Ozpin spoke up "That young man... I can't help but feel like he is going to bring a big change in this day and age." he said to no one in particular. Glynda just stayed silent, not understanding what her superior is thinking.

* * *

Outside the police department in the middle of the night, Ruby was jumping for joy at the thought of being scouted by the headmaster himself, while Luffy wore a mile wide toothy grin on his face.

"I can't believe this is happening! We just got into the academy that we always wanted to go to, all thanks to that robbery we stopped!" she said with the ever present cheerful tone. Luffy was just laughing at the sight of the hyperactive teen next to him.

"Yeah that was awesome! Now we get to go with Yang and have more fun with her around. She's probably home by now, lets go tell her about it. Oh, and since you got to eat cookies and I got meat, I don't have to bake cookies anymore." Luffy said as he thought about the two hanging with his other cousin, Yang, who happens to be Ruby's half-sister.

Ruby looked to him in shock at the comment about her cookies.

"Wha-, that's not fair!" she complained. Since they didn't necessarily go to any places to eat, the deal was now void.

As the duo walked to the harbor facing Patch, Ruby realized something about skipping ahead two whole years and slows to a stop.

"You know, this means that we would be leaving our friends at Signal. It will be just us three and a bunch of new people that we never met." she said with a somber tone. Their friends at Signal won't be able to come along with them, and they would be surrounded by strangers older than the pair.

Luffy stops in his tracks upon hearing this and looks down in thought, Ruby notices this and can't help but feel guilty at raining down on their parade. After a few seconds of silence, Luffy looks back at her with a smile.

"It's not like we're abandoning them, they'll be with us soon enough after they finish Signal. And with new people means we can make new friends, so it won't be as lonely." Luffy said with great enthusiasm in his voice.

As sad as it is to leave them, it would not be a true goodbye since he is certain they'll see them again. Besides, they can forge new friendships with the students of Beacon, and then eventually the two groups would unite. Ruby smiles at him, thankful for the reassurance before she looks at the time with eyes widened.

"It's 10:30 already! Aww, we are so in trouble. We better hurry home, can you get us there with how much Aura you have left?" she asked, since it would be much more faster to use Luffy's method of transportation rather than a bullhead or boat, and they don't want to be anymore late to get back home for what would now be a late night dinner.

"Eeeeh! We were there for that long! Then what are we waiting for, get on my back Ruby!" Luffy said in a panic as the red head complied and climbed up to his back. He briefly enters the navigator bond to get the right direction towards Patch, and then stretches his arms to the top of a building in his path.

" **Gomu Gomu no Rocket** " he shouts as he pulls the two over the building and into the sky at high velocity. Luffy then proceeds to access a different bond, this one with the symbol of a frying pan.

" **Memory Bond: Chef** "

Sure, Sanji was known as the chef of the crew, but Luffy needed him for something else at the moment.

" **Sky Walk** "

Luffy kicks the air itself like it was an invisible stepping stone, to the point that it looks like Luffy is running through the air. He can only do this as long as there is the memory bond with Sanji, which also depends on if he has the Aura to keep it active.

Even if he just proved to have the leg strength to perform it, he doesn't understand how to do it himself.

Right now after about ten minutes of constant air kicking, they are in the middle of the ocean between Vale and Patch.

Ruby takes in the breathtaking feeling of the wind blowing by with her cloak billowing along. She relaxes a little but keeps a firm grip so she won't fall off, mesmerized by the vivid scenery flying by her until she caught sight of Patch.

"There it is... whew, I thought you were gonna run out, but I guess we'll make it." Ruby said as she was relieved to be back.

She then noticed the symbol's glow getting dimmer with each passing second, only as far as about fifty meters from shoreline until the symbol disappeared completely. Ruby blinked as her eyes were wide dinner plates and turns to her human airplane.

"Uhh, please tell me you didn't just run out of Aura." Ruby said while sweating bullets as they lay suspended in the air, above the ocean.

Luffy looked down to see his known weakness and calmly tells her with a smile glued to his face "Yep! I ran out, so you're gonna have to swim the rest of the way. I'm sure you can make it."

Just like that, they start their rapid descent to the sea while they are comically crying and screaming their heads off. The force of the crash when they hit the water separated Ruby from Luffy. She tried to call out to him, but regretted it as she clamped her lips shut when she lost some air and resurfaced.

"*Gasp*... Luffy!" Ruby shouted in panic before taking a deep breath and diving straight down. With expert ease she reached Luffy and looped her arms under his before ascending with him in tow. The rise was slow as the ocean fought against the two.

On her own, she'd like to say that she's a strong swimmer. Give her an extra person to carry however, then it's not as impressive.

Her lungs began to ache when she broke the surface with another gasp. After regaining control over her breathing, she then proceeded to swim to shore with two slightly heavy weights, one being Luffy and the other her Crescent Rose. After reaching shore, she crawled out of the water completely drenched and placed Luffy down on the sand next to her.

"*Cough*, *cough*...*cough*, that was a close one." Ruby said while panting between breaths and spitting out any water in her system. With two weights pulling her down, she had inhaled a bit of water during the swim.

She moves over to her cousin and presses her hands on the center of his chest, administering CPR. Since Luffy can never learn to swim, Ruby and the rest of her family had to learn these procedures just in case this sort of problem happened.

It didn't last long as Luffy moved a little. With a sudden jolt, he sprung up and spewed out the liquids harshly. Ruby sighs in relief for saving the boy from drowning.

"Whew, that was a close one. See, I knew you can do it." He said casually with a grin as if his life was not in mortal danger.

"Geez Luffy, it can be such a pain towing you around sometimes. Anyway, lets just get to the house before we catch a cold." Ruby said in a slightly annoyed tone. As much as it bugged her, it was a problem that couldn't be helped, so she's not so mad over it.

The duo stood up and began their trek back to the house so they can tell everyone the incredible news and pack up their belongings for Beacon Academy, not knowing the trials that await to challenge their ambition.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Sorry if the chapter was really dull and slow moving, just needed to get the interrogation stuff out of the way. Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	3. Family Bonds

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 3**

"So let me see if I got this right. You two went to a dust shop reading magazines." a blonde woman started the brief summary of their night. She receives a nod, prompting her to move on.

"Brought it upon yourselves to stop a robbery happening at said store." she scored another nod.

"Got dragged to a police station for questioning but in the end got recruited into Beacon." the two beamed at the mention of the recruitment.

"Then you had Luffy become your pilot to bring the both of you home, only for him to run out of fuel over the sea. And then you, Rubes, had to swim the rest of the way carrying Luffy to shore; which explains why you had looked like you ran through a rainstorm without an umbrella. Did I miss anything?" she finished with a raised eyebrow as she pieces together a summary of the events.

"Nope!" the duo confirmed.

The blonde woman stands an inch taller than Luffy, sporting an attractive figure and pale complexion along with a mane of bright blonde hair that goes down to her waist and lilac eyes that can change to red the moment she gets angry. Her outfit includes a tan vest over a yellow low cut crop top with a black symbol of a burning heart on the left breast, a belt with a buckle over her black short shorts with a white asymmetrical back skirt, fingerless black gloves, and brown knee high leather boots covering orange socks of different lengths and a grey bandana wrapped around the left leg at the top of her boot. The only accessory on her is the orange infinite scarf on her neck. Her yellow bracelets on her wrist play as the disguise for her weapon, a pair of shot gauntlets called Ember Celica.

This is Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's half sister and Luffy's cousin-in-law, older than the both of them by two years.

The duo had recently gotten back home, which looked more like a cabin, and changed out of their soaked clothes from their impromptu swimming exercise.

Ruby went with her usual pajamas which included a tank top and pajama pants, while Luffy wore a plain black t-shirt with blue shorts. Yang, who was already there, decided to question their whereabouts since they were so late. Although, Qrow and Taiyang are also late as they needed to get groceries for dinner, so it was going to be a late night meal anyway.

Yang had a look of thought as she contemplated on how to react to the series of events. She finally concluded a few reactions and followed with the first and foremost.

"How could you put both of your lives in danger like that you idiot! You could've drowned!" Yang yelled as she punched Luffy on the top of the head, giving him a lump. Luffy rubbed his sore head while apologizing with a carefree demeanor.

"Yang! It's not like he _wanted_ to run out of aura. And besides, I was the one that thought of the idea of using his Sky Walk, so it's my fault." Ruby said trying to reason with her sister and pin the blame on herself. The situation was beyond their control at that moment, so it was unfair to scold Luffy for it.

"No, I'm just not good at saving my aura. If I were better at it, I could use my semblance a little longer." Luffy said pointing out his own faults.

Due to having multiple spirits inside of him, it granted him an enormous amount of aura. But his aura manipulation is so poor that he burns through it in about 10-15 minutes regardless of the high reserves. He didn't have any time to train in conserving aura which was one of his problems.

Through the eight years of training, he spent the first year reacquiring his Haki. Since he learned Haki the first time around, it didn't take him as long to get it back. During that time, he regained his devil fruit powers and learned of his semblance and spent one year for each of his seven bonds to gain what little experience he could from using them as well as readjust to having his devil fruit.

Just because you _know_ the techniques from those bonds doesn't necessarily mean you have all the experience in using them.

"Look... we can play the blame game all we want, but what's important right now is that you're both okay. Sorry if I overreacted you guys." Yang said with a downcast expression. Being the eldest, you tend to get a little overbearing in the younger's well being. Yang threw out the sad face, and replaced it with a wide grin as she thinks about the more happy news.

"Aaaaah! My sister and cousin get to go to Beacon with me. This the going to be the best four years EVER! I'm so proud of you two!" She said with uncontainable glee as she gives the pair one of her patented bear hugs, much to Ruby's discomfort. After Yang let them out of the possible deathtrap, Ruby was catching her breath and Luffy had an identical grin on his face.

"Meh, it wasn't anything special. We just did what we wanted." Luffy said with a sense of humbleness. To him, it didn't matter if he stopped a robbery or saved an entire kingdom, he was just going by his own whims.

"Yeah, it's not anything to get worked up over." Ruby said shyly adding onto the humble atmosphere that they have.

"But it is! You are going to be the bee's knees." Yang said in a doting manner.

"I don't want to be the bee's knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees, that's all." Ruby ranted, not wanting to be the center of attention.

"I don't really care if they like me or not, that's for them to decide. As long as I'm with my friends and family having fun adventures, then it's all good." Luffy said, not having a care about his own popularity.

The two sisters looked at him with a sweatdrop at his stance on the matter.

'Yeah, the guy that doesn't care to be famous is the one that gets popular.' They thought in unison. There was time in Signal Academy that Luffy had developed a fairly sized group of fans along with a few admirers, though he doesn't know it, nor would he mind it if he did.

"Man, I need to start hanging around you guys more often. You get to have all the action without me in it." Yang said with a bit of jealousy. It's like where Luffy is, danger is right around the corner. And wanting to have some thrills in her life, Yang wants to be a part of the dangers along with him.

Ruby just rolls her eyes at the comment as the front door opened showing two grown men carrying some bags along with a small corgi named Zwei.

"Ah, hey uncle Taiyang, hey old man." Luffy said being the first to notice who came in. Qrow grew a tickmark at the 'old man' remark.

Taiyang is a man with short blonde hair and lilac eyes like Yang with a tattoo on his right arm. His outfit consists of a brown vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off, brown cargo shorts with a belt in a darker shade, and black shoes. He didn't bother to bring his armor along with him.

As soon as they placed the bags on the table, Qrow walks up to Luffy and pinches his cheeks with Armament and pulls on them.

So far, other than Luffy, Qrow and Taiyang are the only other individuals that learned to use Haki. Although it's kinda weird having a little kid teach adults something, but they were glad they did very early since it took them five years to get both types.

"Who are you calling an old man, huh kid!" Qrow growled at him while pulling his cheeks.

"Owowowow, stop that it hurts! I didn't teach you Haki just so you can do this." Luffy whined, feeling the pain through the Armament pinches. The pulling didn't hurt because he's still rubber.

"Wow... didn't think Luffy was so _cheeky_ , huh sis." Yang said to Ruby adding a pun to the comment, to which the redhead groaned at.

Qrow finally lets go of the appendages, which Luffy rubs with a pout on his face, and smirks at him.

"So, I got contacted by Oz saying you and Ruby are going to Beacon. Nice going there you two." Qrow said while patting Luffy on the back and then taking out his flask to take a swig out of it. Ozpin called him not too long ago and questioned him about Luffy's relation to him, among other things that Ozpin may as well know.

Yeah, that was a fun talk.

While Luffy was grinning at him, Ruby was giving him a curious look, wondering if he told Ozpin something that she tried to hide.

"Wait, did you tell him about Luffy's... past?" Ruby asked, afraid that trouble is coming for revealing that secret.

"Yeah, I told him. We go way back, and I know I can trust him with knowing his little secret. He'll most likely not care about it, I'm surprised Luffy hasn't spilled the beans on his own. Though I should have told him that I adopted a kid earlier." Qrow answered, reassuring his niece that Ozpin is worth telling. He can understand Ruby trying to keep other people from knowing, regardless of any trust that exists.

"Well we should probably get to cooking, right Luffy?" Taiyang spoke for the first time since arriving home.

"Yay! Meat!" Luffy shouted with excitement as he finished petting Zwei and heads over to the kitchen with Taiyang. Everyone rolled their eyes at Luffy's food obsession.

"So... how did you get scouted in the first place?" Taiyang said trying to start a conversation while the oven warms up. If he were to ask Luffy, he would get the abridged details of the entire night with no lies or secrets, since Luffy can't lie to save his life or hold a secret. He's sure that Ruby would tell him everything too, but she speaks so fast that it's hard to follow.

Luffy gave him his own kind of story as he mentioned all of the important bits, at least in his opinion. Taiyang was nodding his head as he listened to his story, until Luffy mentioned the 'falling into the water' bit, which he punched him in the head for his recklessness, even if it was Ruby's idea.

It would seem obvious as to where Yang got her overprotectiveness from.

Some of the nicknames like Girly Man, Mystery Lady, and Witch, he had to take a guess as to who he referring to. They got the ingredients out and got right into cooking their dinner, with Luffy activating his chef bond to gain an edge in cooking. It's not as divine as Sanji's, but it's still really good.

While the conversation was going on, Qrow, Yang, and Ruby with Zwei on her lap had their own private discussion in the living room.

"You know, with Luffy with us, that means we can continue training to unlock our Haki, Rubes." Yang said with enthusiasm at the thought of learning to do the awesome things that Luffy can do. Ruby smiled at that, not putting much thought into that fact.

They both started training when Ruby and Luffy entered Signal, so it has been two whole years and they still don't have either type unlocked. They never thought it would be so difficult until they tried, because unlike Aura, you couldn't have someone else that has it unlock it for you.

"That's true... but I want to make sure you remember why you wanted to learn it at all." Qrow said with a very serious tone, trying to remind them of their reasons.

The sisters looked down in deep thought, with their bangs covering their eyes.

'Of course we know why. It's for Luffy's sake.' Yang thought with a sullen tone, Ruby having similar thoughts.

Ten years ago, Yang thought she found a lead to finding her biological mother, who left her shortly after she was born. Yang and Luffy were pulling a wagon with a sleeping Ruby in it, all bundled up as they were headed to their destination.

Yang wanted answers, but Luffy came along just to possibly meet his aunt.

When they got to their destination, which was a humble shack that showed no signs that anyone was there, Beowolves came and ambushed them. Luffy tried to fight them to protect his family, but to no avail as he was too weak to hurt the Grimm.

During all of the commotion and growling, Ruby stirred from her sleep, only to be petrified along with Yang as a Beowolf found its way in front of them. It cross slashed with its claws, but Luffy stepped in front of them to take the blow, causing a wail in pain as blood gushed out of the wound. Luffy stood his ground however, as something snapped in him from the near-death experience.

He mustered all his strength and shouted at the Beowolves to leave them alone, subconsciously using **Conqueror's Haki.**

And to the shock of the paralyzed sisters, the Grimm were rooted in place in what looks like... fear.

A few seconds later, Luffy's body gave out and collapsed on the ground, with the Grimm returning to their slow approach towards the trio to kill them.

Before they could do anything however, Qrow came in and quickly dispatched them and carried the bleeding boy in his arms towards the nearest hospital with a sobbing five year old Ruby and seven year old Yang tagging along.

To everyone's astonishment, the boy was going to survive the ordeal, even though he had a miniscule chance of survival with such critical wounds.

Some say it was sheer luck, but Qrow is taking a guess that it was purely Luffy's will to live, yet he doesn't know where it could have came from.

The specifics didn't matter to Ruby or Yang, they just know that Luffy didn't leave them.

On that day, Luffy regained his memories of his past life, and Ruby and Yang resolved themselves to become stronger. They want to be strong enough so they can protect themselves, so Luffy won't ever have to resort to such drastic actions. All in order to keep their family together.

Back in the present, Qrow can tell that they clearly remember their resolve all those years ago. He sighs heavily, earning the attention of the two as they stopped their trip through memory lane.

"And one more thing... try not to abuse Luffy for his semblance when you guys are at the academy." He said in a weary tone. The sisters averted their gaze and looked sheepishly at the little known fact.

They don't mean to do it so much, it was just that Luffy had so many convenient skills to use that they took it for granted.

"Yeah, maybe we could pay him meat for his services." Yang suggested, earning a deadpanned stare from Qrow and Ruby. She shrugged at her own suggestion, accepting defeat in the unspoken argument.

Ruby heard a 'ding' and widened her eyes at what that could mean and headed towards the kitchen, only to find what she was looking for in the form of fresh cookies coming out of the oven. Luffy laughed as he spotted Ruby, who was staring at the treats with a sparkle in her eyes, and placed the cookie tray on the counter top. Ruby sped over to her cousin and caught him in a hug.

"You're the best cousin ever! W-wait... I thought you didn't have to make any, we had a deal." Ruby said with a curious sound in her voice. She didn't think that Luffy would still make cookies. Luffy just laughed again for her not getting it.

"You're right, I didn't _have_ to. I _wanted_ to, but you're going to share." Luffy said to Ruby, giving a simple reason for making them anyway. Ruby beamed at him for his kindness, not caring for the fact that she has to share.

As long as she gets cookies out of it, everything is A-Okay.

Taiyang smiled at the show of family love as he prepared the dishes across two separate tables, one for just Luffy to hold a crazy amount of food and the second for the rest of them. Well, more so that Luffy doesn't get any ideas about taking food off of other plates. They all gathered at the kitchen to find out that dinner was balsamic steak with berry salad, though Luffy has the same thing except a ton of meat added on.

Everyone ate in content of the delicious meal before them, thankful that Sanji's culinary skills are still incredible despite the lack of mastery. Luffy finished his in about two minutes, so he was giving his attention to Zwei as they continued.

When they all finished, everyone was heading to their rooms to sleep except for two. Qrow walked up to Luffy as he wondered about something.

"So kid, you're gonna bring the rest of your weapons with you or what?" He asked. He knows that Luffy would be moving into a dorm at Beacon, so he can't leave his other weapons back in Patch. The boy looked at him with half-lidded eyes, as if saying that the answer is obvious.

"Well yeah, my crew won't be able to help me much without them. Why?" Luffy wondered in childish curiosity at his adoptive father's question.

"Since there's some time left before you leave, we may as well help you with Aura manipulation, seeing as you get a little reliant on your crew." Qrow pointed out, as there is still time, about a week exactly, and it would be the last time in a long while till they have a reunion so they may as well spend it on their common bonding exercise.

Though he won't admit it, Patch would become dull without Luffy's mischief. Luffy tilted his head in thought, debating on taking the last minute training. After he recalled how short lived his semblance is, Luffy nodded his head in agreement with a smile. Qrow smirked at this and raised his fist towards him, gesturing for a fist bump.

"I'm not going to be around when you leave, but as you would say, it won't be the last time seeing each other. Just be ready for what Beacon has to throw at you, 'kay kid." Qrow said, knowing they'll meet again and having faith in Luffy. The straw hat boy returns the fist bump with a toothy grin.

"Yeah, when we meet again, I'll be a lot more stronger dad. And I won't let school beat me down, even if it is boring. I wouldn't be a free huntsman if that happened." Luffy said with strong confidence. Luffy leaves to his room to turn in for the night, leaving Qrow in his thoughts.

'Heh, fifteen years and he's already in Beacon. I _know_ those three are gonna go far in life, especially him. Kinda makes me wonder if that was why I adopted him.' Qrow said, reminiscing when he made the decision to take Luffy in.

He didn't really know what possessed him to do such a thing, he never really thought about being a dad. But at this point, he does not ever regret it. Maybe it was seeing Summer give birth to Ruby or Raven with Yang. But when he saw a six month old Luffy after receiving word from doctors that he was orphaned, he just felt... _something_ in the infant. He may not put much faith in fate, but it was like Luffy was meant for big things and he believes it was his job to see it through. He shakes out of his reverie and starts heading back to bed for the night, getting ready to give Luffy a hard time training.

* * *

The week passed by in the blink of an eye for the trio. Now they are on an airship transporting students to Beacon Academy. The training did slight improvement to conserving aura, as it increased the time frame he has by about another five to ten minutes.

The three are in their normal attire, with the exception of Luffy who is carrying a large backpack that is holding the rest of his equipment along with a satchel holstered on the back waist next to Clima-Tact.

In one of his hands, he carries Soul Solid, a purple shikomizue (cane sword), though it doesn't have the hook like Brook's, with a blue glowing line down the handle indicating that it uses ice dust.

The family trio could hardly wait to reach their destination, if their big grins were anything to by. They were walking around until Luffy caught sight of a TV broadcasting news about riots from the White Fang, causing him to pout. He has heard of them, but he doesn't like what they're doing.

"Geez, why are they idiots? They want people to be nice to them, but yet they are hurting them. That doesn't make any sense." Luffy said offhandedly commenting on the terrorist groups actions.

It reminds him of the fishmen that claim to be a superior species compared to humans.

Unbeknownst of him, a young woman with long wavy black hair and a olive pale complexion overheard him as she casted a quick glance out of her book. She decided not to confront him in his opinion on the matter and just resumes reading.

Said woman stands an inch shorter than Luffy without her black bow and has cat-like amber eyes with purple eye shadow. She wears a black buttoned vest with coattails over a sleeveless white undershirt that exposes some midriff, a black collar scarf on her neck, black ribbons on her arms with a detached black sleeve and silver band on the left arm, a pair of white shorts with black stockings that fade to purple towards the black low-heel boots, and her emblem which appears to be a belladonna flower is found on the stockings in white.

After he finished watching, Luffy went over to his cousins to find a blonde boy in what looks like a squire outfit feeling sick.

The blonde boy is half a foot taller than Luffy with dark blue eyes and pale white complexion. He wears a black hoodie with reddish orange sleeves under a white chestplate and shoulder armor, blue pants, brown gloves exposing the fingertips and a small plate, two crisscrossing belts in different shades of brown, and black shoes.

"Ummm, are you okay? You look like you're about to puke." Luffy said with worry for the blonde. Said blonde didn't respond as he really was about to vomit any minute. Luffy rummages through one of the side pouches on his backpack and fishes out a yellow marble and hands it to him.

He didn't know why he was sick, but any medicine was better than none at all. The boy takes the marble and tosses it in his mouth and swallows it with little difficulty, only to feel a little better after doing so.

"Phew, thanks man. I got motion sickness and forgot to bring my own pills. The name's Jaune Arc." the boy, named Jaune, said in gratitude for the help.

"Shishishi, you got on this flying thing even though you get sick. What are you, an idiot. Oh, I'm Luffy." Luffy said bluntly as he jabs at Jaune's intelligence. Jaune looked crestfallen at the insult, but doesn't argue against it.

"Well it was nice meeting you Jaune, see ya." Luffy said as he continues to look for his cousins. He eventually caught up with them as they were looking out the window in awe. Luffy stands next to them wondering what they were looking at and see it for himself. What they see is the school that they are currently headed for.

"Wow, it's so huge! Beacon is so awesome!" Luffy said in childish excitement, not caring for the odd looks the passengers were giving him. The sisters nodded their heads in agreement to the breathtaking sight before them.

Beacon Academy may as well be a castle with its size, design, and the buildings dotting the campus.

"Beacon, I hope you're ready. Luffy is going to demolish your food storage, and we're going to start this year with a _Yang._ " Yang commented offhandedly, with Luffy laughing and Ruby groaning at the pun. This was going to be their place of residence for four years, and the start of their path to achieve their dreams.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Finally, we are about to meet the rest of the RWBY cast. I also wanted to get some backstory behind Luffy's adoption, regaining his memories, as well as a reason for Ruby and Yang to learn Haki.**

 **As far as Haki is concerned, I intend on having the group try to learn the Haki type more well suited for each of them.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback**


	4. First Day at Beacon

**A.N : I realized that I've been unfair in giving everyone but Jaune descriptions in attire, so I updated Ch. 3 to add a small paragraph about that.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 4**

As the airship arrived and touched the landing pad, the students filtered out of the flying machine. The family trio managed to move out of the crowd to look in amazement of the courtyard they are currently in.

"Wow, Signal has nothing on this." Yang commented in awe. She gets a nod in agreement as a response from Ruby and Luffy. Ruby then starts scanning the many students that blanket the area. Well not the students themselves, but the weapons they have.

"Woah! He has a collapsible staff! And that guy has a fire sword!" She says in childish wonder. Luffy hears this and can't help but join in on the search for cool weapons.

"Relax there kids, they're just weapons." Yang said matter-of-factly. She couldn't hide the mirth of seeing the two look like little kids in a candy store. Ruby took slight offense to the statement and turned to her older sister.

"They are not just weapons, they're an extension of our bodies. And while I do love my Crescent Rose, it's just like meeting new people but better." Ruby said, lecturing her sister about her obsession.

"Oh really... because last I checked, Luffy can already extend himself. Why don't you try to make some friends. If not, Luffy is going to make you." Yang said with a grin. With Luffy around, it was pretty much impossible not to interact with others, and whenever he makes a friend, that by extension means they are also your friends.

This caused Ruby to pout and then look around for said cousin. When they couldn't find him, they were about to start searching until an explosion happened not to far from them. They only had one thing in their thoughts and that thought was...

'Luffy.' they both thought in unison with dull eyes. Not even in the building and he already caused trouble.

"Welp, I'll leave that to you Ruby, cuz I got friends to meet and catch up with. See you later." Yang said before she sprints over to her pals, leaving a slack jawed Ruby behind.

Yang just left her to deal with whatever trouble Luffy got himself into... that's a low blow.

With her head hanging in defeat as she walks over to the location of the explosion, only to find Luffy and a white haired girl to be covered in soot. Surprisingly enough, Luffy's straw hat remained unscathed.

Said white haired girl is at an inch taller than Ruby, only with the white wedge heeled boots on, has a pale complexion and ice blue eyes with a crooked scar down the left eye. Her hair is pulled up into a side ponytail that goes down to her thighs. She wears a pale blue bolero jacket with the inside being red over a thigh length dress of the same color. The accessories include an apple shaped necklace and thin rectangle earrings, and her snowflake symbol can be found on the back of the bolero. On her waist is a ribbon that is holding a small bag on the back of her waist.

Ruby continues her approach as the soot blows off, and then Luffy starts his boisterous laugh with the girl gritting her teeth in anger.

"Hahahaha, that was an awesome sneeze, I thought we were gonna die." Luffy laughed out loud, casually mentioning their possible demise.

"Don't just say something like that so easily you idiot! You're lucky we didn't get blown off the cliff!" the white themed girl shouted at him in growing anger. How he could laugh in the face of death was rather disturbing and very strange to her. The straw hat boy just rubs his head with a toothy grin.

"Shishishi, sorry about that. But we didn't, so that's nice. Hey, you wanna be friends? I'm Luffy." Luffy said as if he never caused an explosion to begin with. The girl grabs him by the front of his hoodie and pulls him down to eye level and gives him a harsh glare.

"No, I refuse to be friends with a complete and utter idiot like you!" she yelled harshly. She'd rather be dead than hang out with him. Ruby decides to step in and push them apart before things get out of hand.

"L-look, can we not get in a fight? And Luffy already apologized and introduced himself, so it's only fair to accept it and introduce yourself. Oh, I'm Ruby by the way." Ruby said trying to defuse the tense atmosphere with a friendly tone. It doesn't seem to work as the girl turns towards her with a scowl on her face.

"Oh I'm sorry, but aren't you a little too young to be here?" the snarky girl replied earning a flinch from the red head and a pout from Luffy for still not getting a name. He didn't have to wonder long as a new voice broke into the conversation.

"Weiss Schnee... heiress to the illustrious Schnee Dust Company. I'm surprised that you don't know her since you use dust with your weapons." Came the voice of the amber eyed girl as she makes a remark on Luffy's weapons, noticing that they do use such materials upon closer inspection.

The three turn to her to see her reading a book while holding a vial of dust. Excluding Luffy since he sensed her presence, they wondered when she got there.

The girl, now named Weiss, looks smug at the recognition of her status, although it was quickly wiped away by the next comment by the same girl.

"The same company known for underhanded business tactics and questionable partners." she said in a dry tone, which rewarded her with a gaping Weiss, a snickering Ruby, and a laughing Luffy. Weiss was affronted by the slander, and took the vial and marched away fuming, leaving Ruby and Luffy with the black haired girl who was about to walk away as well until Luffy asked her...

"Oi, what's your name?" the girl sighed before turning her head to the side to answer.

"Blake, Blake Belladonna." the now named Blake said as she left the area. Luffy for his part, had a wide toothy grin at learning the names of his new friends.

"See... now we have more friends Ruby. We have Blake, _Wise_ , and Jaune." Luffy said to her with a cheerful demeanor.

It doesn't matter to him whether they wanted to be friends or not, once Luffy called you friend, you were stuck there. The cheerfulness seems to be contagious as Ruby finds herself smiling too, even though things are rocky with Weiss. Footsteps were heard as Luffy turned to the sounds to find a familiar face.

"Oh, hey Jaune! This is my cousin, Ruby. Ruby, this is Jaune, the guy that almost puked on the flying thing." Luffy introduced the two with Ruby raising a brow at the blonde and Jaune bowing his head in defeat.

"Gee thanks... I really appreciated that Luffy." Jaune said sarcastically, not wanting others to know about that event in fear of embarrassment.

"It could've been worse, if you did people would call you Vomit Boy." Ruby reassured Jaune before turning to Luffy. "So what did you do to make an explosion?" she asked, with Jaune looking curious as well since he also saw the blast. Luffy tilts his head in thought, trying to remember how it happened.

"Hmmm... oh right, I was exploring the place until I ran into Wise's stuff, and then she was yelling at me while shaking a bottle of that red Dust, my nose itched when I sniffed it, and then I let out an awesome sneeze that blew us up." Luffy said before falling into laughter. Ruby and Jaune sweatdropped at his short story as Jaune leaned towards Ruby's ear.

"Is he always like this?" he whispered to Ruby, only to get a nod from her. Ruby wanted to move to a different topic, so she chose the one she is most comfortable with.

"Well I got this thing. Her names Crescent Rose and is a high-caliber sniper-scythe." Ruby said with a bit of pride as she pulls out her scythe and planting it to the ground. The sight of the weapon startled Jaune as the scythe is taller than any of them.

"O-oh, that's cool... well I have this sword a-and a shield that turns into a sheath." Jaune said lamely as he shows his own weapon, which gets him an 'Oooo' from the cousins. He looks over to Luffy expecting him to join in on show and tell, only for him to raise his fist, gesturing that Luffy is a brawler. "W-wait, then what's with the stick and rod?" Jaune inquired as he inspects the odd weapons. Ruby decides to cut in to add her own critique on Jaune's weapon.

"First, if your shield is the sheath, wouldn't it weigh the same? Although you can't go wrong with the classics; and second, Luffy uses those weapons with his semblance and the stick is a cane sword by the way." she explains quickly while clearing the misunderstanding about Soul Solid. How it's used to play music and fight at the same time, she won't know, but it's awesome.

Jaune looks sheepishly at the mix up and internally admits that the weight indeed stays the same. Trying to steer away from the topic, he looks around for a sign of where they should be then sends his gaze to the two.

"Do any of you know where to go?" he asked the two only to get a negative from them. He sighs and searches for a directory or map, until Ruby thought of an idea that she could try.

She closes her eyes and tries to focus extremely hard on at least unlocking Observation Haki so she can sense the 'voices' around her to find where a big group of them are, but to no avail. To spare herself of a headache, she stops the attempt and turns to Luffy, hoping he would get the message.

He didn't, so she just whispered what she planned on doing in his ear, Luffy nodding his head in understanding. After a few seconds, Luffy senses where the large number is coming from and takes point in leading them, with Ruby following and Jaune shortly after he realized they were leaving.

They managed to find the building that they're supposed to be in, much to Jaune's shock at what he assumed was a lucky guess. They hear a voice calling out to them and recognize who it is.

"Hey you two, I got a spot here for ya!" Yang said over the volume of the other students. Ruby and Luffy part ways with Jaune in favor of their sister/cousin, with Jaune groaning about another quirky girl to talk to. The fifteen year olds make their way to Yang and stood next to her waiting for something to start.

"So, got yourselves a new friend already. Kinda figures since you have Luffy with ya. How has your day been so far?" Yang said with a knowing look with Ruby frowning at her for the question.

"Other than the part where you ditched me to see what happened with Luffy, he apparently sneezed on fire Dust that this Weiss girl was shaking, which caused the explosion, then she yells at him for it, and now she is Luffy's friend even though she says she's not." Ruby said, summing up the gist of what happened. If Yang wanted to know that badly, why didn't she follow Ruby in the place? Before anymore can be said, Weiss appeared behind them with a look of anger.

"YOU! I'm not done with you, brute!" she yelled at Luffy as he looks at her with a blank expression. She hands him a pamphlet on the basics of dust and proceeds to lecture him, much to Ruby's horror.

Luffy fell asleep while standing in the middle of Weiss' lecture. Weiss notices this as she whacks him upside the head with the ever present scowl on her face.

As if saved by the bell, Ozpin arrives on the stage with Glynda beside him. Ozpin scans the room to oversee the new youths applying to this academy and can't help but have an amused smirk upon seeing Luffy. Luffy turns his head towards the stage and spots the two people from the police station.

"Oh, look it's Ozzy and Witch." he said, making the three turn their attention to the stage in anticipation of a speech. Ozpin cleared his throat on the mic to get everyone else's attention in which he succeeded.

"I'll... keep this brief. You all have come from afar to seek knowledge here, to improve yourselves in your craft and skills. And once you graduate, you will decide to take upon the duty to protect the people. But what I see amongst you is wasted potential that lack a purpose and direction. Knowledge can only go so far, as you will learn here, so it is up to you to take the first step." Ozpin said, giving a commencement speech to the soon-to-be huntsman in training, and lets out a silent chuckle upon seeing a sleeping Luffy.

'Guess Luffy hasn't been one for speeches and backstories, only believing in the present and actions displayed.' he thought to himself in amusement.

In Luffy's group, they watched as Ozpin gave his speech and Glynda later informing them that they would be sleeping in the ballroom for tonight. Ruby and Yang look on in slight confusion of Ozpin's mood.

"There might be something going on Rubes, cuz it looked like he wasn't all there." Yang stated to her sister, and then wakes Luffy up by smacking his head without looking, as if very used to his problem of staying awake in the middle of long winded talks. Luffy bolts up awake upon contact and looked around frantically.

"Awww... and I had a dream about an island of meat. Why did you wake me up Yang?" Luffy complained to the blonde. Yang sweatdrops before walking up to his ear.

"Because dinner is coming soon Lufes. Which is better, a dream with food or having food in real life?" Yang retorted to him, with Luffy drooling at the thought of a meal. Yang couldn't help but roll her eyes at Luffy's simplicity.

* * *

The ballroom became a blanket filled with sleeping bags as nighttime approached. Ruby and Yang were already in their pajamas while Luffy was getting into his in the men's locker room.

The two had the occasional snicker at the memory of every student looking at the straw hat boy during dinner as he shows off his insatiable hunger by devouring every ounce of food in sight. He was so fat after the marathon he looked like a globe, only to somehow make the fat disappear in an instant a minute later, earning a lot of jealous looks from both men and women.

It was something that Yang was envious of, being able to eat so much but not gain any weight with that insane metabolism of his. Yang was standing around taking in the sight of the sea of sleepwear with Ruby writing while laying down.

"Wow! It's like a huge slumber party in here!" Yang said enthusiastically with her arms spread out gesturing to the entire room.

"I don't think dad would approve of the boys though." Ruby stated flatly

"I know I do. Meow~" Yang purred at the sight of some of the many men going topless. She had a disgusted look on her face when she caught sight of Jaune in his blue onesie before turning to her sister in curiosity.

"So sis, what are you doing?" she asked Ruby.

"Just writing a letter to our friends at Signal. You know, keeping in touch with them." Ruby replied simply. She knows she'll see them again, but it doesn't hurt to send letters to let them know you haven't forgotten them.

"Awww, that's so adorable." Yang cooed, only to get hit in the face by a pillow courtesy of a pouting Ruby.

"Shut up. I don't get to bring my friends with me to Beacon. But thanks to what Luffy told me, I know I'll see them again, it's only a matter of time." Ruby said in a soft voice. She appreciated what Luffy said to her after it was brought up, it was like his simple thinking allowed him to cheer someone up very easily. He always had that unknown charm that makes your day brighter.

Yang had a soft smile as well, internally thanking Luffy for comforting Ruby when she couldn't at the time. Shaking herself from the thought, she looks at her sister with a grin on her face.

"Well there's Jaune... he's nice. And then there was that Blake girl Luffy mentioned. I'm sure the Ice Queen would come around eventually and become friends with us. It's usually what Luffy does best." Yang said with a tone of confidence. One of the many stories she heard from Qrow about Luffy's past life was about how he turned almost anyone into a friend before you could blink, and this applies to people that were once his enemies.

The aforementioned boy was spotted coming into the ballroom with only shorts, sandals, and his precious straw hat. He may be scrawny, but has shown to have well defined muscles.

The sister's breath hitched at the painful sight on his chest, an X-shaped scar that looked like two deep jagged cuts from large claws. It was the wound he received when he protected them from the Beowolves ten years ago. It was proof of their resolve to become stronger for the safety of their family, and a reminder of what _could've_ happened if they weren't.

At first, they couldn't look at it straight as they would remember all the blood that was spilled that fateful day. Now, for the most part, are slightly affected but not enough to tear their gaze from it. They need to see it more often so they can cope with it.

Luffy walks towards the two, ignoring the many looks he is getting. Some are from the slightly blushing women that found his scar 'hot'; some are of jealousy and anger from the guys seeing the hardcore scar; while the rest are either concerned or disturbed, wondering how one survives a serious wound like that.

Luffy reaches his two cousins sets down his sleeping bag next to them, still having the idiotic grin.

"Oh man, that was some good eating. I'm actually full for once." Luffy said with a cheerful tone. The sisters rolled their eyes, knowing Beacon is going to restrict his eating habits very soon after witnessing the conundrum that is Luffy's stomach. Ruby spots a familiar face with eyes widened briefly with Yang and Luffy noticing and turning to the direction of her gaze. Luffy's eyes also widened a little at the sight of Blake in a yukata, which happen to be her pajamas, as she is reading a book intently with a lit candle to help read.

"You know that girl?" Yang inquired the two seeing as they look like they met her before. She gets a nod in response from Ruby.

"Shishishi, yeah that's Blake. Lets go say hi to her." Luffy said with a cheerful demeanor, thinking that Blake could use the company since she is by herself in the far side of the room.

Yang smiles at this and picks Ruby up to drag her to where Blake is, knowing Ruby can be socially awkward to new people, but that can get fixed once she starts chatting with said new people. Blake looked up from her book when she heard the sounds of footsteps heading her way and sighs, wanting to be alone but knows they aren't going to leave so soon.

"Hiya Blake, nice to see you here. Oh, this my cousin, Yang, and Ruby is also my cousin." Luffy cheerfully said to her, trying to get her to open up. Blake simply nods in confirmation and waves in greeting, not really one to talk much. Ruby couldn't really get any words out as she doesn't know what to say, but waves back at her. Yang notices that the conversation died as soon as it began.

"Nice night, don't ya think?" Yang said trying to start some small talk to get things moving.

"Yes, it's almost as lovely as this book I'm reading... that I will continue to read alone... as soon as you leave." Blake said with an annoyed tone, making sure they would get the hint, but none of it got through as they just stood there. Yang was about to comply to leaving her alone, thinking that it was a lost cause until Ruby spoke up.

"What is it about?" Ruby asked, getting a questioning look from Blake. "Y-your book I mean." she continued. Blake was taken off guard at the innocent question, not thinking that someone would be curious enough to care about what she read.

"It's about a man with two souls fighting for control over his body." Blake replied. Luffy couldn't help but compare that to himself, with the exception that he has seven other spirits inside of him and there is no fighting for control.

"I like books too. It's one of the reasons for becoming a huntress, stories of heroes overcoming evil and bringing good to the world. To defend those that couldn't do it on their own." Ruby said with a sense of naivety, having an innocent outlook on the world.

"To what end, so people can live a 'happily ever after'. That's pretty ambitious for a child, but the outside world isn't a mere fairy tale that you make it out to be." Blake retorted, knowing how gray the world is by experience. The conversation was interrupted by Luffy's chuckling, which caused Blake's eyes to narrow, wondering what was so humorous.

"You say that, but I think you have an ambition like that too, huh Blake." Luffy said before switching to a more serious expression, much to the surprise of the three. "Why do you want to be alone? There is no way you can be okay with it. Besides, we're your friends so you can't ever be alone." he finished with little emotion in his voice. Blake was taken aback by the presumption, weird question, and declaration that followed.

He looked like he knew more than the average teenager. But when she thinks about it, he's right. Wanting equality and peace between humans and faunus is just as naïve with the way things are, but she still believes it's possible, despite the world she lives in. And when he asked that question, it was as if he knew how it felt to be alone.

She never said that she _loved_ to be alone, but she prefers to be. And how can he just say that they're friends without so much as knowing each other. Blake found herself speechless at Luffy's words, not knowing how to respond or argue against it. Before she can get into deeper thought, a shrill voice was heard.

"Would you dolts be quiet, people are trying to sleep!" Weiss yelled as she stomps her way to them. Yang groans in exasperation at the Ice Queen starting her rant once more. Luffy turned to Weiss with a frown on his face.

"Oi, oi... you're the one that's yelling. Keep it down so people can sleep." he told Weiss, rewarding him with a red faced Weiss as she was at boiling point in her anger.

Ruby and Yang decide to leave it be and go to bed, hoping for the rant to tire Weiss out. Blake sighed to herself as she bookmarked her page in the book and blew out the candles before entering slumber, Luffy's words still ringing in her head. His opinion on the White Fang, questioning her desire to be alone, becoming friends without her consent, and presuming her dream is just as naïve as Ruby's with no knowledge of what her dream is.

She mentally exhausts herself to sleep with all the things on her mind. Shortly after, both Weiss and Luffy follow suit after she had enough of berating the idiot. Tomorrow marks the day of their initiation, the test to see if they have what it takes to be in Beacon Academy.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	5. Initiation

**A.N : Watched the Volume 3 finale... and it was crazy. Ugh, there is so much I want to do with that, it's infuriating.**

 **And I've figured out who is going to be in Luffy's one sided pairing.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 5**

Daytime has arrived in Beacon as the students prepare themselves for initiation.

Luffy was in front of his weapons locker sulking about breakfast. He got up after Ruby and Yang whispered the word into his ear to wake him up, since the first thing that comes to mind is food for him. He entered the cafeteria only to find out that he has indeed been restrained by the faculty on how much he can eat.

The limited amount given was not close to enough to satisfy him, and now he has to deal with it.

The sisters, who have their lockers next to his, sighed in annoyance at seeing him in a sour mood.

"Ugh... Luffy cheer up, you should've known this was going to happen after last night." Yang said in a knowing tone. Of course they are gonna take precautions after witnessing a glutton consume what could be days worth of food. Luffy still had his childish pout on his face after hearing that, still upset about it.

"This is why I wish I could eat those Grimm. I could hunt, cook, and then eat them... bunch of jerks." Luffy said in an irritated tone as he opens the locker to take out his Soul Solid, Clima-Tact, a satchel, and a small pouch to hold some of the medical balls he made by using Chopper's bond.

He tried once after the Grimm died, but it tasted just as bad as when he ate the devil fruit. The people that heard his complaint looked to him in slight disgust at the imagery of eating the dark creatures. Ruby was in the middle of grabbing her scythe out of the locker before she commented.

"As gross as that is, it would be a win-win for all of us." Ruby said, adding her two cents in. It really was a win-win, Luffy could keep himself fed full of meat and kill Grimm at the same time. They wouldn't have to spend a fortune for just his meals at that point, which was a big plus.

"Now all that awkward meet and greet stuff is over with, now I can let my partner do the talking." she continued, gesturing to Crescent Rose as her 'partner'. Yang couldn't help but look at her sister with a frown.

"What about when we're in teams? You're gonna have to talk to them at some point." Yang said, bursting Ruby's bubble. They overheard something about having a four person team. She knows Luffy would be alright with it, he would still come to them to hang out. Ruby thought pensively about it for a few seconds until she came to an answer.

"I can always be on yours or Luffy's team. Maybe we'll get lucky and be on the same team with only one other person. Are you saying you don't want me on your team?" Ruby murmured, wanting to stick with her family rather than with complete strangers that will judge her based on her age.

"N-no no no, that's not what I meant. I just want you to go out there and try to make friends without mine or Luffy's help, that's all." Yang consoled her while waving her arms in a placating motion. She's trying to get Ruby to be a little independent of them, but not so much that she doesn't want to hang around them.

"I don't see how making friends helps me fight Grimm, and it's scary to deal with people that are a whole two years older than me. It just feels like only me and Luffy as the youngest applicants of Beacon." Ruby argued her point in an upset tone. As much as her sister means well and is there for her, she still feels alone in the academy. Her cousin is the only other person that she could confide in. Speaking of Luffy, he was nowhere to be seen by them.

Luffy decided to look around for Jaune, Blake, or Weiss to just talk to them. He didn't find Blake, but he did discover Jaune and Weiss with a red head that's an inch shorter than Jaune when she's in her high heeled boots.

She has vivid green eyes and a pale white complexion with her hair in a ponytail. Her attire consists of a light brown strapless top divided vertically over a bronze v- neck, a red A-line miniskirt with ankle length drapery with a belt connected to two pouches and a bronze plate bearing her emblem, brown cut off sleeves with a bronze bracelet on the upper half of the left arm and a bracer on the same arm, a large gorget, a circlet headpiece, and a pair of greaves and cuisses that begin mid-thigh.

Jaune was in the middle of flirting with Weiss when he misunderstood one of her comments as a compliment until he noticed the red head and tries to swoon her onto his team. Weiss decided to give him an earful for his audacious behavior, at least in her opinion.

"Do you know who you are speaking to?! This is Pyrrha Nikos, one of the top fighters in the Mistral Tournament ranked as the second best fighter for the past three years! What makes you think that you have a chance at her being on your team?" Weiss said to Jaune as she explains to him about the identity of the red head named Pyrrha. Luffy raises a brow in question as he approaches them.

"Cool! That would mean you're pretty strong, but who got first place?" he asked Pyrrha, thinking she would know the most about the champion. The three were startled by his arrival, Pyrrha looks over at him with a curious look.

"To be honest, I never got his name. He would always leave shortly after the fight before any news reporters can interview him. Um, what's your name?" Pyrrha said to Luffy while trying to get his name. So far, Jaune showed no knowledge of her, and now this boy looked oblivious of her fame as well since he is walking towards them without worshipping her.

Even in second place, people still think that she's too good for them and since the champion was absent, that left her to be the celebrity. Although she would prefer if people didn't recognize her for her fame, as it isolated Pyrrha from society.

"I'm Luffy... I guess he doesn't care for the attention, huh _Pyra_? Hi Jaune and Wise, how are things going?" he introduced himself as he butchers two out of three names. Weiss' eye was twitching in annoyance of the straw hat kid messing up her name as well as the celebrity's.

"Get the names right Straw Hat! It's Weiss and Pyrrha!" Weiss yelled at Luffy for the insolence. Luffy tilted his head to the side as he tries to put the names to memory, but is failing at the moment.

"Sorry, it's hard for me to say so for now I'll stick with Wise and Pyra." he apologized, earning him a fuming Weiss and a nod of understanding from Pyrrha. She was fine with it, as the name he gave was still pretty close to her own.

Jaune was inspecting the satchel on Luffy with curiosity as he never really paid attention to it. He might as well ask, since it couldn't hurt to wonder.

"So Luffy... what's inside of that satchel? Does it hold any ammo- no wait, you don't use a gun." Jaune inquired while coming up with theories. Luffy looks at the satchel with realization at not showing him the other weapon he has.

"Shishishi, actually it does have ammo, but it also holds the weapon that uses it." Luffy informed them as he opens the satchel and pulls out a slingshot.

The slingshot was black in color, about the length of his forearm, and has five prongs.

"It's called Black Kabuto, and it shoots dust pellets." Luffy said as he puts away Black Kabuto, and looks to see Jaune and Pyrrha with a confused expression upon seeing a primitive weapon such as that. Weiss was silently giggling to herself, mocking the bizarre choice of a weapon.

Since there were no Pop Greens on Remnant, Luffy had to improvise with Dust and with a little help, he crafted Dust pellets with solid Dust crystals. It has wind Dust interlaced inside the slingshot to imitate the breath dial that was in Ussop's Kabuto for increased power and kept the design for stability and range.

"Ok, so you usually use your fists, but you also wield a cane sword, that blue rod, and now... a slingshot. Anything else you have?" Jaune said after he listed all the possible fighting methods that Luffy has thus far. Luffy puts on a grin as he grabs the small pouch and pulls out a light green marble from it. Jaune raises a brow upon seeing it, very familiar with it aside from color, but Pyrrha takes a guess.

"Is that a special pellet for the slingshot?" She hypothesized, thinking that it would be wise to separate ammunition by how common the ammo is. The pouch can't hold as much as the satchel after all. But to her surprise, Luffy shook his head.

"Nope, it's medicine. This one makes the aura's healing thing stronger." He said simply. Jaune doesn't know what aura is, but if that little ball can heal then that was pretty sweet. Pyrrha and Weiss, who stopped giggling, stood there with wide eyes at the prospect of medicine affecting aura's properties. Before they can ask more of him, Yang and Ruby came around the corner and spotted their cousin.

"There you are Luffy! Geez, stop wondering around all the time. Come on we need to go to the cliffs where it's supposed to start. Later Jaune and Weiss." Ruby said cheerfully, still trying to be friends with Weiss. Everyone except Weiss waved at each other as they went their separate ways. As they were walking, Yang had a question that was bugging her for a while.

"Hey Luffy, why are you trying to have Weiss as our friend in the first place? I know you're stubborn about that, but all she does is yell at you. What's the deal?" Yang said in a confused tone. Luffy continues walking, but none the less answers.

"Because Wise is alone... and I know how much it sucks to be alone." Luffy said with little emotion in his voice. When he looked into her eyes, he could see the loneliness in them, and wants to befriend her in order to get rid of it. The two sisters share a look of understanding and will try to be patient with Weiss' attitude after hearing that.

They reached the cliffs along with the rest of the students as they were instructed to stand on the plates on the ground. Ozpin and Glynda are standing in front of them, scanning over to see if all are present. After it was confirmed, Ozpin cleared his throat before speaking.

"Today, your skills will be put to the test in Emerald Forest. Now before we begin, there have been questions about teams. Well, I will inform you that you will be finding a partner today. So it will be wise to find someone you work well with." he starts off as the students looked amongst each other for ideal partners.

'Ooooh, I hope I can find Luffy or Yang before anyone else.' Ruby wishfully thought, sticking to her original plan.

'I guess I can try to find Ruby. Knowing Luffy, he'll probably think of it as an adventure. Meh, he'll be fine.' Yang thought, making a compromise to find her sister. As much as she wants to be next to Luffy where the fun is, she would have to pick Ruby to bring comfort to her four year tenure.

'Ok, stay away from Straw Hat, look for Pyrrha. Shouldn't be too hard.' Weiss thought as she narrowed it down to only one person. She would rather have the strongest fighter in her opinion than some happy go lucky idiot.

'I don't really care who my partner is at this point. As long as they're not racist towards faunus.' Blake thought in indifference. Even though Luffy was a mystery to her thanks to what he said last night, it didn't warrant him being a possible candidate.

'So here are my options... there's Snow Angel, that Pyrrha girl, Luffy seems like a cool guy even if he wins the ladies without trying.' Jaune contemplated in his mind. Sure, he thought of having a cute girl for a partner, but he wouldn't kick Luffy out of the line up. He already experienced his knowledge in medicine first hand, seems like a capable fighter (even though he uses a slingshot), and begrudgingly witnessed Luffy attract the opposite sex last night. Aside from all of that, Luffy is a stand-up guy.

'I'll just work with whoever I meet. Though I wouldn't mind Jaune or Luffy.' Pyrrha thought, going with the flow of things. She does like the thought of a partner that doesn't think of her as a celebrity or an idol.

"That being said, whoever you make eye contact with will be your chosen partner." Ozpin quickly added, causing the world to break on some of the students, especially Ruby. "Once you find your partner, you will head for a location where relics are placed. Choose one relic per group then proceed to the top of the cliffs. You will be met with opposition, prepare yourselves to eliminate any hostiles or you will die. Now, since there are an odd number of students, there will be a single relic off the beaten path. The warrior that finds this relic will be rewarded with something very special." he continued with his instructions, but the extra relic mentioned garnered the attention of Luffy as he perked up upon hearing it. Luffy began to drool on the possible reward that was being given out.

"Hey Ozzy! What's this special prize... is it a lot of meat! Oh man, I'm gonna find that secret thingy." Luffy exclaimed in childish enthusiasm, causing everyone around him to stare at him with a sweatdrop.

"That is for you to find out on your own young man, why spoil the surprise. But take heed, those that seek greater fortune often leads to more hardship." Ozpin warned them with sagely advice. Ozpin kind of figured Luffy of all people would take the time to search for it, especially with the mindset for adventure and the next meal.

'Welp, guess I'm better off finding Yang then, since Luffy is gonna go all over the place to find it.' Ruby thought, resigned to the fact that her cousin is going to ignore the partner objective in favor for treasure hunting.

Luffy has shown to be incredibly tenacious when it comes to things he wants, from his goals to protecting those he cares about. After several seconds, the plates on the ground were revealed to be launch pads, launching the participants into the deadly forest one by one.

Luffy couldn't wait any longer and looked around for a good launching point. He later found a tree off to the side and left his plate to prepare his own entry. After getting in position, Luffy stretched his arms out to grab a branch. Everyone present; with the exception of Ruby, Yang, Ozpin, and Glynda; had their jaws drop at his stretching ability.

" **Gomu Gomu no Rocket** "

And with that, Luffy sends himself flying through the air while laughing like a maniac. Ozpin let out an amused chuckle while Glynda was staring out with a twitching eye. They didn't say anything against using their own launch method. The students regained their composure before they too were launched. Jaune was stuck staring with wide eyes at Luffy as he disappeared from sight.

'Huh... Lets add stretching his arms into his arsenal. OK SERIOUSLY, what can he not do?! Wh- wait, why do I feel the wind beating my face?' Jaune ranted to himself until he realized something was amiss. He feels weightless and the forest is in motion below him... wait.

It was then that Jaune came to the conclusion that he was launched without even knowing it. He tried to remember asking Ozpin about the landing strategy or possibly a parachute beforehand, but was sidetracked by Luffy's stunt. So he does the best thing he could do at the moment.

Jaune screamed like a girl as he sailed through the sky. Back at the cliffs, Ozpin had a smile plastered on his face while Glynda looks at him with dull eyes.

"I love this part of my job... have I ever told you that?" Ozpin said in longing as he takes a sip of his coffee. He turns to see Glynda staring at him, causing Ozpin to quirk a brow.

"You knew that Mr. Branwen was going to search for the secret relic, didn't you?" Glynda said with a stern tone. Now that Luffy believes he will get food out of it, he will look high and low for it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Besides, he seems to be having the time of his life." Ozpin said, earning him an incredulous stare from Glynda. Ozpin takes on a neutral expression, thinking about something else.

"Still, the fact that Luffy was once the pirate king is hard to take in. And he may not be the only one reincarnated into Remnant as well, given the reports. Things are about to get interesting." Ozpin stated to Glynda as he pulls out a wanted poster, the same old poster of a 400,000,000 beli bounty on Luffy. It's not even the bounty he had when he became pirate king, but it's enough to prove it. They may not know how much beli are compared to lien, but if this was the bounty for an up and coming pirate king, then it must be a fortune.

* * *

Luffy was still gliding over the forest with a mile wide grin. When he started to slowly descend, he decided to use the brakes.

" **Gomu Gomu no Fusen** ( _Balloon_ )"

He inflates himself and lets the bigger surface area catch the wind to slow him down for a soft landing. Luffy blows out all of the air and then drops to the ground in a crouch, taking in the sight of Emerald Forest. The sightseeing stops as he heard some growling from the rustling bushes. Four Beowolves came out and lunged at him, making Luffy jump back and backpedaled from the onslaught. The attacks slow to a halt as Luffy gained a bit of distance from them.

Since Grimm lack a soul, they lack the presence of the usual living being. This hinders Observation Haki a little, as he can't sense where the Grimm are, but he can still gain the brief premonition of the attack through their killing intent. So he's left with using mostly his instincts to dodge the attacks.

"Oi oi, I'm trying to find the secret thingy! Get out of my way." Luffy told the Grimm with a tone of annoyance, not caring if they can understand him. He sighs to himself as he clenches onto his Soul Solid and walks towards them.

" **Second Gear** " he pumps his legs for the speed boost needed for what he was going to do. A black glowing symbol was on his hand, now in the form of a treble clef note.

" **Memory Bond: Musician** " he calls out the name of the bond chosen. Brook's main role was indeed a musician, but he was also a proficient swordsman. But since Luffy isn't only bones like him, he needed Second Gear to compensate for the lack of speed.

He disappears from sight, only to be seen walking past the four Beowolves as he is walking three meters away from them with Soul Solid drawn.

" **Hanauta Sancho:** " he chants as he slowly sheathes the cane sword. " **Yahazu Giri** ( _Three Verse Humming: Arrow Notch Slash_ )"

At the moment of the 'click' of his sheathe, Second Gear and his semblance disengaged, while the Grimm simultaneously got cut down by what looks like an unknown force. As the dead Grimm dissipate, Luffy tilts his head in thought.

"Yosh, now if I were a secret thingy, where would I be?" Luffy contemplated in deep thought. A proverbial light bulb lit up as he put his fist down on his palm in realization.

"That's it! I just need to find some secret ruins or a cave. Shishishi." Luffy said as he came up with a bright idea. He picked a random direction and sprinted in said direction.

Even with Nami's bond, it wasn't going to do him good if he's searching for a secret location. In the middle of running, another pack of Beowolves got in his path. Luffy just cocks his arms back, ready for an attack. The Grimm just took notice of him, but were too late to do anything as he quickly closed the distance.

" **Gomu Gomu no Gatling** "

He throws his arms at a pace that makes it look like he has multiple arms. The creatures were ambushed by a flurry of fists as they were pummeled to the ground. His arms retract into place as he proceeded with his exploration.

After a few minutes of running aimlessly and beating down a few more Grimm, some being Ursa or Boarbatusks, Luffy comes across a clearing with a large expansive tree in the middle. Below the tree's wide umbrella of leaves and branches, there lies a pedestal with a black king chess piece standing on it. Luffy walks over to it with no sense of danger and picks up the piece to inspect it.

"Huh... is this the secret thingy Ozzy talked about? Doesn't look like treasure to me, and I'm not in a cave." Luffy stated passively after seeing nothing special about it. He shrugs his shoulders and puts the chess piece into his pocket then turns to leave. May as well take it along with him.

Before he could leave the clearing, a loud roar resounded through the area. Luffy enters a fighting stance and looks around for the source of the hostile roar. A black figure jumps out of hiding and tries to land on top of Luffy, but the straw hat boy leaped out of the way. He tries to get a good look at it, but upon seeing it, his eyes turned to stars in wonder.

"AWESOME! I never seen a Grimm like that before! Wait till Ruby sees this!" Luffy exclaimed in excitement. He could imagine Ruby saying something along the lines of 'Oooo a new Grimm, lets kill it!' seeing as she is a bit kill happy towards the creatures of darkness.

The black beast before him looked akin to a gorilla with its bulky arms and upper body. It stands at about four meters tall and has bone white armor covering the upper body, enveloped his forearm and knuckles like a pair of gauntlets, and also covers his legs. It also has tusks for teeth protruding from the bottom lip and a mask of the same bone armor. The bone armor itself has strange red markings all over that give off a dim glow.

Luffy decides to make the first move by charging at him with both arms stretched back.

" **Gomu Gomu no Bazooka** " he shouts as he launches a double palm strike at the gorilla Grimm. To his surprise though, it crossed its arms in an X to block the blow, not even budging. He never ran into any Grimm that had the basic intellect to block. Evasion was one thing, but blocking? All they tend to do is rush in blindly and hope that they kill their prey.

"This gorilla must be really old. I remember dad telling me that they are better at fighting when they get older. This is going to be a tough fight." Luffy said with narrowed eyes, piecing together what he learned from Qrow. His eyes widen in shock when he sees the gorilla enter its own fighting stance. It seems to have developed a rudimentary fighting form along with a bit of patience.

" **Busoshoku: Koka** " Luffy's arms get coated in armament as he enters a fighting stance in preparation of the challenge before him.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **How do you like the OC Grimm? Lets be honest, the Nevermore and Deathstalker would be too easy for Luffy and co., so this bad boy is going to be the challenge they need.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	6. Forest Rumble

**This OC Grimm isn't going to be the only one in the story.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 6**

Ozpin and Glynda are at the top of the cliffs watching the video feed of the initiation.

Currently they see a tired looking Ruby and Weiss walking around the place trying to discern the right direction. From the looks of it, Ruby had a plan, but she wanted Weiss to admit that they're lost so she can rely on the help of her teammate.

Yang had teamed up with Blake after a brief encounter with a couple of Ursai and are now on a trek to the temple.

Jaune and Pyrrha have reached the entrance of a cave debating if they should enter it or not.

Ren and Nora had just defeated a snake with a head on each end of the body called a King Taijitu before meeting eye contact, only for the bubbly girl to hitch a ride on an Ursa and drag Ren along.

Ren is a quiet young man standing at a 5'9" with black hair with a ponytail that has a magenta streak to match his eyes. His clothes seem to be influenced by Chinese culture with the dark green tail coat with black and gold trimmings and pink cuffs over a black long sleeved shirt resembling a lotus flower, light tan pants, and black shoes.

Nora is at a height of 5'1" with short orange hair and turquoise eyes. The attire she wears is a bit of a mix and match with her collared black vest over two layers of red and light blue clothing, a white sleeveless top with a tiny heart between the cleavage and collarbone, detached sleeves on her arms the same color as the top with pink fingerless gloves, a pink skirt, and pink and white shoes with pink laces. She also seems to have a bit of armor from the shoulder to waist.

The two professors switched over to the camera showing Luffy pitted against a giant gorilla. The sight of the location forced a chuckle from Ozpin, causing Glynda to quirk a brow at him.

"It appears that Luffy found the special relic already. It could have been luck or he just knew where to start looking. I'm going to lean on the former of the two." Ozpin said in slight amusement.

Only Luffy could bring that kind of fortune, or misfortune in the case of the Grimm, everywhere he went. Glynda just turns back to the screen with a look of concern.

"That may be so Ozpin, but it's worrisome that he riled up a Berserker Kong in the process. How is there even one in Emerald Forest?" Glynda asked mostly to herself. The faculty tend to handle regulating what species of Grimm are in the forest to ensure a challenging environment to hone your skills, and at the same time make sure of no lethal accidents.

Although... it is to the students own peril if they decide to train in the forest instead of an arena on campus.

Ozpin takes a sip from his coffee as he continues to watch the students travel around the forest, but is very interested in how Luffy handles the Berserker Kong, or B.K for short.

* * *

 _With Luffy..._

Luffy has his attention focused on the Grimm, now known as B.K, as the two are waiting for the first move to be made. The creature decides to do this as it runs up to the straw hat boy and swing its fist at him. Luffy takes evasive action and weaves through the attack, not wanting to try blocking the heavy hit even with Armament.

It's not like he could stop a punch from a giant through pure strength alone in his past life. A barrage of punches rained down upon him as he slipped through the attacks with ease. Luffy bends back to avoid another punch and plants his hands onto the ground while putting the bottoms of his feet together.

" **Gomu Gomu no Yari** ( _Lance_ )" he yells as his feet spring out, hitting the Grimm in the unarmored abdomen. The attack caused it to double over, with Luffy preparing to hit it again by jumping back to his feet and stretching his arm far behind him.

" **Gomu Gomu no Bullet** "

He hits it with the snapback of his retracting arm for a close ranged hit with Armament, this time sending B.K skidding back a fair bit of distance. The red markings on the bone armor began to glow brighter as the Grimm looked at Luffy with rage in its eyes. Luffy just stared in confusion at the glowing markings.

"Why did it glow brighter like that?" he asked to no one in particular. B.K let out a loud roar before sprinting towards him again in fury, but to his surprise the beast was moving faster than before. Its attacks have also gotten quicker, as Luffy is having slight trouble dodging them.

He was at a point where he couldn't dodge the next punch, so he crossed his Armament arms to brace for the impact. For a moment, the attack was only pushing Luffy, but in the end he lost his footing and was sent across the clearing. He came to a stop when he crashed into a tree at the edge of the clearing, but because of his rubber body, collisions don't affect him.

"Man, that was a good hit... good thing I'm rubber otherwise that would hurt really bad." Luffy said before chuckling with a toothy grin. Blunt trauma from punches and kicks and certain weapons, falling from high heights, and crashing your body against obstructions doesn't really affect him really much.

His body tensed as he heard loud stomps coming closer and jumped out of the way of a bulldozing gorilla, only for it to only destroy the tree Luffy crashed into. The Armament faded from his arms, but appeared on his legs as Luffy activated the 'chef' bond. He may as well make it literal for Sanji's nickname, Black Leg.

He leaps in the air above the recovering B.K, then he spins forward to pick up speed for the next attack.

" **Concasse** ( _Crush_ )" Luffy lands an axe kick to the top of the Grimm's head, causing a slight crater beneath its feet. He then used Sky Walk to jump a couple steps into the air above his opponent so he can add in more damage to the head.

" **Brochette** ( _Skewer_ )" he points one leg down and drops in a drill-like manner, delivering another powerful kick in the same area. This time, the thick bone mask cracked under the force, but didn't crush B.K's skull. Luffy grins to himself with satisfaction at the damage done as he disengages his semblance and Armament, he hops off the injured head and prepared to continue the battle in case it of a counterattack.

He sees the markings glow even more brighter but with slight fumes wafting off from them. B.K let out a low growl before lunging at Luffy with incredible speed and bloodlust.

He leaps out of the way once more, but is surprised by the yank on his leg to see the Grimm grabbed hold of it. It then began to swing him around really fast, and with Luffy's rubber body it made the action look like it was swinging a blur of a ball and chain.

B.K let loose of its grip on his leg and throws Luffy far out of the clearing and soaring through the air, the glow dimmed slightly but the beast was still enraged at the tough human as it is now trudging through the forest to find him.

 _With Ruby and Weiss..._

Ruby was currently sitting down with a dull look while resting her hands on her cheeks. Not too long after landing, she had a run in with the crabby heiress and fought some Beowolves, only for it to not go so smoothly when Weiss used her Multi Dust Action Rapier, Myrtenaster, and burned a bit of the forest down which called for a retreat.

Sure she may have jumped in front of the enemy Weiss was targeting.

Weiss later finds out that Ruby and Luffy skipped ahead two years when she remarked on Ruby's inexperience. Then Weiss berates her for the lack of coordination, and now they have the problem at present.

Weiss didn't know which way to go and refuses to ask for her help or admit it. Ruby may not know exactly where to go, but there is a simple solution to it. It has taken her every ounce of patience to not shout at Weiss for being so stubborn.

She sure developed a lot of it from dealing with Luffy's antics. Ruby was broken out of her musings by Weiss.

"It's official, we're lost!... I don't see you helping, Ruby." Weiss said, finally admitting to the fact. Ruby stands back up and dusts herself off before walking in a random direction. The heiress notices this and can't help but get mad at the nonchalance.

"Where do you think you're going?! Did you know where we have to go from the start?!" Weiss yelled in anger. If she knew, why didn't she say anything? Ruby couldn't help but slump with a sigh of frustration as she answers the white haired girl.

"We're not getting anything done by standing around here. And no, I don't know where I'm going, but I'd rather take the chance at getting back on track than sticking around to think about which way is right. You didn't bother asking me to pitch in and help, instead you walk and talk like you know absolutely everything without considering another person's opinion. You don't have to do everything on your own Weiss, that's the point of being partners, right?" Ruby explained to Weiss, though near the end she sounded tenderly.

Ruby and Luffy would almost be inseparable, and it adds to Ruby's understanding of how to work together. She just needs to learn how someone else fights to adapt with them.

Weiss was about to rebuke the half baked idea, but couldn't after not being able to argue against it. Ruby brought a point, it was no use to not take any action, and she needs to stop acting like her opinion is all that mattered.

She needs to let go of her pride and learn to lean on others for support while also supporting them in whatever faults both sides have. It will be slow progress with her perfectionist attitude, but if Ruby is willing to put up with her for the sake of being a good teammate and person, then Weiss will learn to follow suit.

Weiss sighs to herself before she picks up the pace until she is walking side by side with Ruby. Ruby looks to her with a raised brow as Weiss looked like she was contemplating what to say.

"I apologize for my... rude behavior and stubbornness earlier. I guess we could get on both of our nerves. You're right, if we're going to be team, then we have to get along with each other. Since you mentioned about skipping ahead two years, that means you are behind in school subjects and still tend to act childish, despite showing a mature side a few minutes ago. I'm going to make sure my partner doesn't drag me down with poor grades, got it?" Weiss told her before thinking of any other things to mention.

She's not exactly good at trying to sound nice.

"And you don't have to try so hard to meet my expectations, if the headmaster believes you're ready then I'll... try my best to put some faith in you. If there are teams, that means one will be leading it. As much as I want to be the leader, if someone like you gets the role, then I'll just have to push you harder." Weiss compromised to Ruby, who beamed at her optimistically for being able to get through the heiress' cold exterior, despite being a little nervous about how strict Weiss is going to be.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Weiss! I'll make sure you won't ever regret it. Hey, maybe we can bring Luffy into the whole studying thing. Oh right you never heard, Luffy is my cousin and I'm really sorry for him blowing you up yesterday, please forgive him." Ruby said cheerfully while rambling at a fast pace.

Weiss almost didn't catch what her partner said and when Ruby got to the topic of her cousin, the edge of her lips twitched at the thought of dealing with the idiot now knowing that they're family but reluctantly accepted that.

She'll just have to make due with whatever life throws her. The moment she left the comfort of her family's protection, she took the condition that life will be unfair to her. As they were walking, they failed to realize the presence of a creature looming over them.

 _With Yang and Blake..._

Yang was dying of boredom due to the lack of action and idle conversation. There was no Grimm to blow some steam on, and her partner doesn't seem like a very sociable person.

Blake never really talks unless you start a topic of discussion that catches her attention, and even then she will only respond if she has to.

They are on the path that leads them to a temple of sorts that they saw from a vantage point. She internally prayed to whatever god there was to bring something to do for them.

As if her prayers were answered as soon as it was made, the duo heard something that sounded like someone... screaming? The sound seems to be coming from above in a different direction. They squint their eyes to see a figure sailing through the air aiming to land near them. Yang widened her eyes when she recognized the figure as it is coming closer into view.

"L-Luffy?! What in the world happened to bring him over here?" Yang asked rhetorically with wide eyes. Blake was also staring wide eyed at the sight before her.

Luffy finally crashed into the ground next to them, kicking up a lot of dust. Yang shakes herself out of her stupor and approaches the dust cloud with a worrying Blake in tow.

Blake was worried about the fact that someone crashed really hard onto unforgiving land, only to see the dust clear to show the straw hat boy patting himself off of any dirt completely unharmed.

"Wow, that gorilla is really smart and strong. He threw me really far away." Luffy said in amazement before laughing it off. B.K actually adapted to the fact that he has a rubber body during the brief encounter and used it against him.

It seems to be a type of Grimm that is a very quick learner, especially in the middle of a fight. He turns his head to see Yang and Blake staring at him.

"Oh, hey guys, what's been going on with you two?" Luffy asked in a cheery tone, as if he wasn't tossed from one side of the forest to the other. Yang walks up to him and grabs him into a bear hug while letting out crocodile tears.

"Luffy... you don't know how horrible it was. There was nothing to do, no Grimm to fight and my partner happens to be anti-social." Yang comically cried out with fake pain in her voice. Luffy rubs her back in comfort while Blake rolls her eyes at the drama Yang was displaying, not really bothered by being called anti-social as she would admit she isn't really into starting mundane conversations. Although she was going to ask Luffy some relevant questions since he's here now.

"Mind telling me how you survived a fall that would normally kill a person?" Blake inquired Luffy, seeing as there shouldn't be any way to live through that unscathed, even with aura. She did see Luffy launch himself into the forest by stretching his arms, but she couldn't wrap her head around how that worked. The two cousins released each other from their embrace for Luffy to answer her.

"Hehe, I forgot to tell you and my other friends... I'm a rubber man. Falling and crashing into stuff doesn't hurt me. See?" Luffy said while rubbing his head for forgetting to reveal that to his new friends, before he did his usual demonstration by stretching his cheeks apart. Blake was a little freaked out by how far it was being pulled, but managed to keep her composure. Luffy releases his cheeks after getting his point across.

"Okay... now how did you get yourself flying like that? It didn't look like you did it on purpose like back at the cliff." She continued her observations, becoming a little more curious. With all that screaming, something had to have gone wrong.

"Oh that... I was exploring the forest looking for the secret thingy, and then I found this small black thing and a big gorilla popped out of nowhere." Luffy explained as he pulls out the chess piece he discovered from his pocket.

"We fought for a little bit, but the gorilla grabbed my leg and tossed me." he finished his short story of the events. Yang takes the chess piece and inspects it along with Blake, both having thoughtful looks on their face.

"Maybe this IS the secret relic you were supposed to look out for. I'm surprised you found it already, we haven't even made it to the temple yet. We should probably get going." Yang concluded as she returns the relic to Luffy, who beams at the thought of finding the thing he was out searching for.

Good thing he picked it up on a whim.

The trio agreed to continue their journey and walked along the path. Silence permeated the air for a long while until they heard a rustling from the bushes. Yang activated her Ember Celica and enters a boxing stance, Blake had her hand on the handle to her variant ballistic chain scythe called Gambol Shroud, and Luffy gets into his usual stance. Out from the brush come a pack of Beowolves, one of them being an Alpha.

"Yang, you look really bored so you can have the big one. Blake and I can handle the others." Luffy said with a toothy grin, causing Yang to mimic his grin in delight.

Finally she gets an opponent other than cannon fodder.

She turns her attention to the Alpha and rushes in, the beast sending a vertical swipe as she is closing in. Yang sidesteps the attack and throws a few punches amplified by the shotgun blasts attached to her weapon. It slightly staggers the Alpha, but it doesn't stop its pursuit of wild attacks in an effort to claw at the blonde.

She jumps back when it tries to pounce on her, only for it to land on all fours and receive a hard punch to the side, launching it towards a tree head first as a 'crack' was heard upon impact. The blonde turns back to find any stray enemies to thin out the horde for her comrades.

Blake takes out her cleaver and starts cutting down the Grimm in her path with elegant grace. She pulls a katana out of the cleaver as the two weapons were compacted into one, with the katana sporting a pistol as the hilt. Swing after swing, Blake quickly leaves a path of dismembered Grimm in her wake while dual wielding swords.

The Beowolves start swarming her and left her no choice but to use her semblance to leave a shadow of herself as a decoy to escape the numerous claws ready to tear her apart by jumping off her decoy. She switches her katana into pistol form as the blade is pointing in one direction and the gun barrel pointing the other way. Blake takes a few careful shots, taking out some of the Grimm that are huddled up closely.

The black haired girl ties the ribbon from her arm around the trigger and throws it into the group of dark beasts before yanking on the elastic material, causing the pistol to be fired. Like a boomerang, it came back to its owner, taking out another enemy. She proceeds to swing her weapon around as if it was a kusarigama, using the pistol to speed up the velocity to take out more Grimm.

As all of that action was occurring, Luffy can't help but spectate the battle Blake is waging with stars in his eyes when in the middle of pounding Grimm.

"That's so cool! She has two swords in one with a gun." He said in childish glee before dodging a swipe from a Beowolf and countering with a fist to the temple. If Blake wasn't in the middle of fighting, she would've sweatdropped at the comment.

Suddenly, he remembered a technique he used against Foxy after seeing Blake's kusarigama in motion. He armaments his right arm down to the middle of his forearm, grabs his arm and starts swinging it around until it stretched to the needed length.

" **Gomu Gomu no Flail** " he shouts as he swung his arm outward.

Very much like his Whip with the exception of it being his arm as opposed to using his leg, the limb travels in a wide arc and makes contact with one of the Beowolves, killing it as the creature was sent flying.

Luffy repeats the process on the rest of the unfortunate dark beasts until there were no more Grimm to make victim to his attack. He looks around for any more baddies and finds none in their vicinity. The two girls notice this too and put away their weapons. They regroup back on the trail with a grinning Yang and Luffy.

"Oh man, I really needed that! At least those guys didn't cut my hair like the Ursai I fought before running into Blake." Yang said as she stretched out her arms in relief of the workout that transpired. A few moments later, Yang recalled something that Luffy mentioned.

"Hey Luffy, you said a gorilla threw you, right? Are we talking about a Grimm?" Luffy nodded "Kinda figured... huh, he sounds like he would be really tough to kill if he gave you a rough time." she commented with eagerness.

If Luffy got tossed like a ragdoll, then it's gonna be a challenge that she'll probably accept. Not only that, it might hold a grudge against Luffy if he done any lasting damage to it. So having Luffy around may increase the odds of gaining more action, which is a plus in her book.

"Lets get moving before any more show up. We still have an initiation to pass." Blake informed with the cousins nodding. They wasted too much time here already.

As the trio jogged through the forest with Luffy ahead and out of earshot, Blake decided to bring up something that caught her attention.

"Yang?" the blonde turned her head towards her "That comment earlier... are you saying that Luffy is stronger than you?" Blake asked in curiosity. Yang did say if Luffy couldn't beat something, then it was guaranteed to be difficult. Yet he was younger than the two of them.

"Oh yeah, he can beat the snot out of me AND Ruby. When we spar, it would always be him versus the both of us. You haven't seen anything until he enters Second Gear, then it just gets ridiculous." Yang said with a grin, showing no ounce of shame or fear in admitting that. She's humble enough to tell people there is someone far more stronger than her.

When they participated in those spars, Luffy shows practically no restraint when fighting them. If they got a little too confident when they are actually getting somewhere, Luffy would decide to use Second Gear and stomp them to the ground. He would be able to keep up with Ruby's speed and out muscle Yang's strength.

Although the beatdowns do help in some unexpected ways. It's good practice since in a real fight your opponents will show no mercy to their enemies, helps them adapt to facing adversity, it teaches them some humility to make sure they don't get arrogant in their skills, and improves their pain tolerance as they usually get spanked really hard by Luffy.

Blake gulped nervously, a little scared that what she saw only scratched the surface of Luffy's combat prowess, and he didn't even use his weapons as far as she could tell.

Yang on the other hand, noticed something odd about Blake. She seems to be talking more than when it was just Blake and herself, and it started with Luffy literally falling from the sky.

"You know, you've been _really_ curious about Luffy? What, are you interested in him?" Yang asked with a teasing grin, rewarding her with an eye roll from the bow wearing girl. The only word that Blake could describe him as is peculiar, what with his childish demeanor and quirks along with being a rubber man. But yet at times, he'd show a more experienced side to himself. The conversation dies out as they approach a clearing, signaling that they have reached their destination.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Welp, round one with the Berserker Kong is over and I also wanted to get the problem between Ruby and Weiss solved earlier than canon.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	7. Friends Unite

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 7**

Luffy, Yang, and Blake entered a clearing to see what looks like an ancient temple with a series of pedestals aligned in a circular pattern in front of the caved in entrance. On top of the pedestals are a set of chess pieces, though some of them are missing such objects. Yang looks in slight confusion as she observes the pieces on display.

"Huh, chess pieces... looks like the king piece Luffy found actually is the relic. Who knew?" Yang said, confirming her own guess about Luffy's discovery earlier. She continues investigating until she noticed something else.

"Some of them are missing, guess that means someone else was here before us." Yang theorized, resulting in a nod from her partner. The blonde picks out the white knight piece from one of the many stands and presents it to the two. "How about a cute little pony?" She asked cutely to Blake.

"Sure, as long as we have the relic. Now we just have to head back to the cliffs and then we're finished. Come to think of it... Luffy, you don't have a partner, do you?" Blake asked the straw hat boy, only to be ignored as Luffy looked like he was focused on something else.

Yang catches on to what he's doing, he's using Observation Haki to sense any other students close by.

"Sup Luffy? Did you sense someone?" she asked her cousin, breaking Luffy from his concentration as he nods his head. Blake quirks a brow in confusion, since she is completely out of the loop of his hidden abilities.

Luffy points in one direction through the forest, gesturing to where the people are. The two girls heard a girly scream from somewhere close to the clearing, but they all ignored it.

"Yup, there's two people coming closer from that way." he started before pointing to the opposite end of the clearing, where the girly scream came from.

"And then there are two more that way. I think that might be Pyra and Jaune. Don't know why it looks like Jaune is flying though." he continued with a tone of confusion. Finally, he points to the sky which prompted the two to look up and spot a big black bird overhead.

"It looks like Ruby and Wise are on that thing too." Luffy finished as they spotted a small speck jump off the bird, which Yang and Blake can discern as an old Nevermore.

"HEADS UP!" they faintly heard causing Luffy and Yang's eyes to widen when they recognized the voice. Ruby just performed a leap of faith hoping someone would catch her.

Luffy grants that wish as he jumps high in the air below Ruby.

" **Gomu Gomu no Fusen** ( _Balloon_ )"

He inflates himself into a cushion for his cousin to land on. Ruby faceplants into his belly and bounces up slightly before returning to her savior with a smile on her face.

"Thanks Luffy! Kinda figured you would catch me." Ruby said with a cheery tone, only to get a thumbs up from Luffy so he won't let the air out of him as they slowly float down to the ground.

A figure suddenly flew by below the duo and smacked into a tree. If it wasn't for Luffy's slow descent, Ruby most likely would've collided with the unknown projectile. The figure turned out to be a dazed Jaune as he was groaning in discomfort for the crash.

"Your sister just fell out of the sky." Blake said to her partner plainly.

She has to admit, Luffy can think on his feet when it comes to his stretchy body.

Yang was just relieved that Ruby wasn't hurt, but before she can do anything a roar was heard at the edge of the clearing.

Luffy deflates himself upon touching the ground, letting the red tipped girl down softly.

Joining the gang in the clearing are a pair of students was an orange haired girl with a hammer in hand and a Chinese oriented man holding his knees in exhaustion, whom they haven't met yet. The hammer wielding girl was riding an Ursa until it collapsed dead on the ground, most likely from whatever abuse it suffered. The girl hops off her steed and gives a childish pout.

"Awww, it's broken." she said, saddened that her once living vehicle ran out of fuel. Her companion finally catches up to her while panting.

"Nora... don't ever... do that... again." the boy in between pants. He looks over to his partner only to find out she is no longer there.

The girl, now named Nora, walked up to the pedestals and plucks a white rook piece and raised it up as if she won a trophy.

"I'm queen of the castle~, I'm queen of the castle~!" Nora said in a chipper sing song voice.

"Nora!"

"Coming Ren." she complied to the boy named Ren before they both joined the ever growing group. Nora makes eye contact at Luffy, who had stars in his eyes.

"Your the guy with the stretchy arms! That was so awesome!" Nora exclaimed to the straw hat boy.

"You got to ride a bear! That was so cool, why didn't I think of that?" Luffy beamed in childish glee. In that instant, they knew they were both very like minded. Ruby, Yang, and Ren looked between them with a look of horror of what it implied.

'Oh no, there's two of them.' they thought in unison. One crazy person was hard enough to keep track of, now they have to deal with the two insane individuals united.

They were all left speechless as the crazed duo pranced around with one arm interlocked and a grin that threatens to split their face as if they were long time friends. The group was broken out of their stupor and cheer (in Luffy and Nora's case) when Pyrrha broke into the clearing... with a Deathstalker tailing her.

Jaune suggested to explore the cave thinking it might hold the relic they are searching for. After exploring further into the cave, they did run across something glowing. Naturally, Jaune assumed it to be the relic. Unfortunately it had to be the stinger of the Deathstalker tailing Pyrrha at the moment.

"And now we have a girl that just rode an Ursa and another that has a Deathstalker as a tag along." Blake said dryly.

Yang was facepalming herself at everything that happened so far. She DID wish for something to occur, just not expecting it all to come crashing down simultaneously.

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME RUBY!" they heard a shrill voice from above, and it sounded like Weiss.

"I said 'jump'! Don't worry, Luffy will catch you!" Ruby shouted back to the heiress with a smiling Luffy nodding, though it looked like Weiss didn't listen.

After they fixed their partnership, they happened to attract the Nevermore with their negative emotions from the argument. Ruby thought it would be a great idea to hitch a ride on the bird with Weiss aboard to get an eagle eye view of where the ruins are. Getting on board was simple enough, it was finding a way down that left them stranded in the air.

"She's gonna fall off." Blake noted casually.

"She'll be fine." Ruby reassured them.

"She's falling." Ren said with no emotion.

She did indeed start her descent to the hard ground with Luffy sprinting below her to use the same strategy as last time. Jaune recovers from his daze to see Weiss falling and decides to play hero by jumping off the tree branch he was perched on. Jaune manages to catch her in a bridal carry with the girl rolling her eyes.

"Just... dropping in." Jaune said, trying to sound suave. Though it doesn't work if Weiss' scoff was anything to go by. They both stay motionless in the air until they realize that Jaune forgot about gravity.

As they were plummeting, Luffy reaches the location of where they would land and inflates himself once more. The falling duo land on the human trampoline with a shocked expression as they sunk into the belly slightly. But when they sprung up, Jaune ended up bouncing off of Luffy and faceplanting on the dirt with Weiss sitting on top of him.

"My knights in shining armor." Weiss said sarcastically while looking at her nails.

"My back, ow." Jaune wheezed out.

Luffy deflates and stands back up to look at the two with a toothy grin.

"Shishishi, now that everyone's here lets get rid of the bird and scorpion thing." Luffy suggested, getting an eager nod from Ruby.

Pyrrha was soon swatted away by the pincer of the scorpion, flinging her to the rest of her companions.

Ruby was about to dart towards the Deathstalker, or scorpion as Luffy would call it, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Ruby looks back to see Weiss with a scowl on her face, as if telling her to stay put and don't do something stupid.

"Listen Ruby, as much as you want to prove yourself, think about it first. The armor is too strong for your scythe to cut through." Weiss informed her partner, who rubbed her head sheepishly at the obvious info. The Deathstalker barely has any unarmored areas to exploit, so one would need excessive force to break the armor or accurately strike the weak spots.

Before they could think of a battle plan, the Nevermore flapped its wings which hurled a barrage of sharp feathers. Both girls used their semblance to evade, with Ruby using her enhanced speed to leap back quickly and Weiss sliding back with her glyph. The spear like feathers failed to hit a target but were now obstructions on the field.

"Yosh, I got the annoying bird. You guys can kill the scorpion." Luffy said while placing his fist in his palms in determination. Weiss hears this and pulls Luffy by the hoodie with an irritated look.

"Idiot! We only need to get the relics. There's no point in fighting them." Weiss berated the straw hat boy.

Luffy remains undeterred as he stares into the icy blue eyes, still wanting to kill the Grimm. The others seem to agree with the heiress with the exception of Ruby and Yang as they were about to leave the clearing to retreat. If their cousin was going to stay, then they'll stay by his side.

While the two argued, Ruby picked up the second knight piece while Jaune chose the rook piece.

"If we leave those things alone, what about the others! We would be leaving the other people in the forest to face _our_ problems! This fight is between us and them!" Luffy shouted back, making Weiss recoil at the outburst and released his clothing.

The group stopped in their tracks upon hearing this, looking wide eyed in realization.

'Me and Jaune were the ones to rile up the Deathstalker. To leave it alone right now would mean...' Pyrrha thought with dread when she pieced together the situation. Weiss was having similar thoughts about the Nevermore.

Leaving the old Grimm out in the location where all the students were supposed to be going would be the same as condemning them to fight a dangerous battle caused by them.

Everyone adopted a look of shame as they were about to do something unbecoming of a huntsman/huntress. They turned back to Luffy, brandishing their weapons in preparation of a long fight. Pyrrha is equipped with Milo and Akouo. Akouo is her shield while Milo is a combination of a spear, xiphos sword, and a rifle. Nora has a warhammer that doubles into a grenade launcher called Magnhild. Ren arms himself with Stormflower, a pair of green automatic pistols with a blade parallel to the grip.

The showing of the weapons lead to Luffy staring at them in childish wonder.

The family trio had smiles at seeing them return to finish what they started. Even though Ren, Nora, and Blake didn't do anything to aggravate either of the Grimm, they can't leave in good conscience if they just run away.

"Alright, we'll stick with Luffy's match up. We're killing the Deathstalker." Ruby ordered to her comrades. They don't have any effective means of long distance combat, so that leaves Luffy to face off against the Nevermore. They all nod in confirmation to the idea before heading towards the armored scorpion.

"The eyes and legs don't have any armor, lets start with that. If you're a heavy hitter, try breaking the armor to give us more weak points. The rest of us will distract it." Jaune strategized, analyzing any small details that can give them an advantage.

Yang and Nora grinned at the statement, knowing full well they are physically strong enough to do damage, no matter how small. They both rush ahead as the others give suppressive fire to annoy the enemy. Yang shoots some shells at the eyes, trying to have the blast burn out the ocular organs. The Deathstalker takes a few shots but stops in place to put the pincers in front to protect its eyes.

Nora takes advantage of the lack of movement and leaps in the air for an overhead swing with her warhammer. The impact seems to have little effect with a small crack on the shell serving as proof of the damage. The beast roars in anger and swings its pincers at the duo. Yang and Nora were hit by the attack and sent tumbling across the ground.

The Deathstalker was about to charge at the pair until Ren and Blake joined the fray and passed by its sides to attack the small black legs supporting the creature. Ren readies Stormflower and cuts up any legs in sight while Blake mimics the action with Gambol Shroud. The scorpion hisses in pain before flailing around with its pincers and tail, causing Blake to use a few shadows to dodge the wild attacks while Ren took a hit and was launched away.

Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha took point later with Weiss taking the rear for support as they approached their foe. Jaune and Pyrrha prep their shields and blocked each pincer as they came down on the duo. Since the appendages are kept at bay, Ruby switches her weapon to sniper form and focuses on the eyes. The sniper rounds took out two of the many eyes before the scorpion went on a rampage and tried to stab the perpetrator with the stinger. Weiss steps in and stabs her rapier into the ground with ice dust to freeze the tail in place to stop it from impaling her partner, who turns to her with a smile to which she returns.

While the Deathstalker struggles against the freezing binds, the eight students regrouped away from it to assess the situation.

"We're not getting anywhere with this. There's got to be a way to pierce the armor." Weiss said with a grave tone.

"If I absorbed some lightning, then I could smash that thing into the ground and break its legs." Nora suggested with a cheery tone. All eyes were on her as she continues.

"My semblance lets me move electricity through my muscles so I can hit a lot harder." Nora added, causing an idea to form in Ruby and Yang.

"Well look no further, Luffy can give you all the charge you need. We'll go fetch him to help you out." Yang said with confidence.

"Alright... but let us four handle the rest from here so you can help him out with the Nevermore." Jaune ordered with everyone nodding in agreement. He already has a plan for Nora's enhanced strength to be put to use.

 _With Luffy..._

The straw hat boy can be seen darting around the area to dodge the hail of feathers launched by the Nevermore. The giant bird just kept itself moving out of range from the stretchy punches heading its way. Luffy tried to use Sky Walk to get closer, but he was hard pressed to dodge more projectiles at closer range and waste aura.

That leaves only one option to combat the aerial opponent. A forest green symbol appears on his hand in the form of a target reticule.

" **Memory Bond: Sniper** " he calls out as he pulls out his Black Kabuto from the satchel along with a yellow dust pellet.

He sets the pellet in the slingshot and pulls back on the center piece, aiming at the flying creature. The dust begins to glow as he infuses it with aura.

" **Lightning Spear Star** "

Luffy lets loose the projectile and it morphs into an actual spear made of electricity moving at high speeds. The dangerous bird let out a pained caw as the spear struck through the body, sending jolts all over it. The Nevermore is in a daze as it is trying to shake off the pain. The outside may be tough, but internal damage was still effective.

Luffy lets out a chuckle at his handiwork before he sensed four people approaching him from behind. He turns around to see it's Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.

"Eh! You guys killed the scorpion already?" Luffy said in bewilderment. Even with their teamwork, he thought it would take a little longer to kill it.

"N-not really... but I have a plan to kill the Nevermore while Jaune and the rest of them have the Deathstalker. We just need you to give Nora a lightning bolt so they can finish it off. But we also need your help with the Nevermore." Ruby explained before looking at their self proclaimed opponent in the sky with smoke coming off its body.

Luffy's eyes widened in panic as they were telling him to purposely shock their friend. The girls see the expression and wanted to let him know that it was safe.

"Don't worry, she can absorb it because of her semblance. It's sort of like you, but instead of insulating the electricity she gets stronger from it." Yang reassured him, which worked as his demeanor eased up at her words.

"Ok... but I call dibs on the gorilla when it gets here." Luffy said with a shrug. If they're confident that they can end it, then he'll give them the opportunity. Ruby and Weiss raise a brow in question about the gorilla he mentioned until it dawned on Ruby.

The gorilla that Luffy encountered is a new Grimm that she never seen or killed before. This thought caused her to pout at the prospect of missing out on killing a new Grimm. She wanted to at least assist him in some way.

Luffy switches out his Black Kabuto for the Clima-Tact along with the required bond as he focuses on finding Nora, which should be easy to point out since she is wildly waving her hammer around.

He repeats the process that he performed on the night of the robbery, throwing cool and heat orbs into the air to create a thundercloud above Nora. Everyone except the sisters look at the cloud in shock and wonder.

'He can create an actual thundercloud with dust!' were the collective thoughts of some of the shocked initiates.

"Here you go Nora... **Thunderbolt Tempo**!" Luffy yelled out as he lobbed a thunder ball at the cloud to strike Nora's hammer with lightning. The energy transferred from weapon to person as the orange haired girl started exuding static from her body. They both gave each other a crazed grin before facing their respective enemies.

"Okay, first things first. We need to slow it down before we can make an attempt." Ruby told her group. They nodded in acknowledgement seeing as the Nevermore's constant movements were a problem. Said beast recovered from the previous attack and caws in anger.

The Grimm flaps its wings once more to launch another volley of feathers, but the teens scattered apart to avoid them. Luffy changes back to his sniper bond and sets up another pellet to shoot, this time the dust is icy blue.

" **Ice Block Star** " he calls out as he shoots at the belly of the bird. Upon impact, a large slab of ice bloomed in place and is clung to the Nevermore. Weiss stared in disbelief of how the small pellet had a strong effect. Blake widens her eyes when she sees it struggling to keep itself from falling.

"The block of ice is too heavy for it to move. Ruby, now's our chance." Blake realized, resulting in a nod from the red tipped girl. Ruby looks around to find two pillars close underneath the creature.

"Yang, you and Luffy get on top of the Nevermore. Weiss, Blake, and I are going to make our own slingshot." Ruby ordered. The family pair nod as Yang climbs onto Luffy's back, already knowing how to get up to that height. Blake sees how the 'slingshot' was going to be made and proceeded to climb one of the pillars. While this was going on, Weiss looked at Luffy and Yang with disapproving eyes.

"This is no time for some piggyback you two!" she yelled at them, but the two ignored her as they were focused on the task given to them. Yang gives a thumbs up and a grin to Luffy, signaling that she's ready.

" **Memory Bond: Chef** "

Luffy jumps high in the air before kicking the air to start gaining more altitude with each step. The Nevermore was too concerned about the heavy weight to try and attack the duo.

" **Sky Walk** "

Jaune and his group met up with them to join in on the gawking with Weiss and Blake upon seeing Luffy fly up to the bird.

When Nora got energized by the bolt, Jaune and Ren played the distraction for the recently freed Deathstalker while Pyrrha got into position with her shield. Nora used the shield as a springboard and launched herself high in the air before setting her sights on the stinger. As the scorpion batted the two boys away, it failed to notice Nora as she spun forward towards the appendage. When she put all her strength into the attack, apparently the force of the strike was so immense that it caused the stinger to pierce its back.

The results being that the Deathstalker died from impalement from its own stinger with it still attached to the tail.

"You've got to be kidding me... he can fly!?" Jaune asked rhetorically. The guy has too many tricks up his sleeve. Ruby was giggling to herself when she sees everyone staring like gaping fish.

"Technically it's not flying, more like he's walking on air... literally. Blake, did you get it ready yet?" Ruby noted. Sure it imitates flight, but since he is repeatedly kicking the air it looks no different from walking. Hence the name of the technique, Sky Walk.

The bow wearing girl snapped out of her stupor when she heard Ruby before hurling her weapon in kusarigama form at the other pillar. Gambol Shroud wraps around the structure several times before the blade secures itself on the stone. A few tugs and Blake was sure it could stay in place. There was enough height to pull on the ribbon far enough to launch something.

Ruby jumps up a little and hooks the ribbon with her scythe. She pulls it down until she can climb on it and make herself the ammo. Weiss spawns a black glyph that seems to suck in and hold onto the accessory, much like drawing the string of a bow.

Luffy and Yang reached the topside of the Nevermore and landed on its back. They placed a firm grip on the back so the giant bird can't shake them off.

"Okay, now we have to wait for Ruby's signal. Man, this is a crazy plan." Yang commented.

"Hahaha... well I think its an awesome plan. This is Ruby we're talking about." Luffy said in a cheerful tone.

Yang activates her semblance, causing her hair to glow like the sun and her eyes to change from lilac to red. The damage she took from the Deathstalker converted to physical power to enhance her already above average strength. Luffy throws his arm back and uses that arm to pump it.

" **Second Gear: Busoshoku** "

The arm blackened in Armament Haki and gave off steam as they await Ruby's signal.

Back on the ground, Ruby faintly spotted the black arm high in the air.

"Okay Weiss, shoot me at the neck and then we can finish the rest." Ruby ordered the heiress, who didn't give a reply but nonetheless angled the makeshift slingshot carefully.

The black glyph shifts to red before launching a human bullet rocketing towards the Nevermore.

"YANG! LUFFY! HIT IT NOW!" Ruby yelled over the wind as she is fast approaching the neck.

The two grinned at hearing Ruby. Luffy's blackened arm ignited itself on fire before reeling back to him.

" **Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk!** "

The timing was perfect as Ruby's Crescent Rose slammed into the neck at the same exact time as Yang and Luffy's burning punches smashing into the back. With Ruby rising up and the two forcing the Nevermore down, it was only a matter of time until it was decapitated.

With a final roar, Ruby shot black dust bullets until she cleaved through the neck. She switched magazines from normal sniper rounds to black dust rounds to give a much more powerful recoil before setting up the slingshot.

Yang quickly jumped onto Luffy's back while the falling corpse was decaying into nothingness. Luffy Sky Walks to Ruby and catches her in a bridal carry before letting himself fall to the ground. He cratered the ground upon impact from the landing, but still landed on his feet.

The two sisters were let down to the ground with smiles on their faces along with Luffy. The others were a little mind blown by the method they used to defeat it. Ren decided to be the one to voice everyone's thoughts.

"That's one way to chop the head off a Nevermore."

They were interrupted from any further actions by a deafening roar to which Luffy looked in the direction of with a fierce gaze. They weren't out of the woods just yet, for there is one more adversary to confront.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **It is now time for round two with the Berserker Kong.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	8. Round Two

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 8**

Most of the teenagers in the group were startled by the sudden roar that bellowed in the air. Luffy was the only one that seemed to be unfazed by it, knowing the owner of the sound.

"Oh man, what was that?" a scared Jaune said. They just finished a tough battle with two old Grimm. Another one was going to be more dangerous since the previous fight already tuckered them out.

"That... might be the gorilla that Luffy fought earlier. We're gonna clear out of here to give them some room to fight, but we'll be sitting back unless he _really_ needs us. That alright, Luffy?" Yang asked. On the inside, she does feel a little intimidated by the Grimm and knows when she is close to her limits. Yang doesn't want to endanger her own life so recklessly because of Luffy's priorities.

The moment that someone close to him is in mortal danger, he will ditch all sense of self preservation and protect said person with his body if that's what it takes. Luffy looks to her with a wide grin as he nods his head.

"That's fine. You can leave or stay, it doesn't matter to me. But if you do stay just keep yourself out of my fight." Luffy instructed which caused concern to appear on some of their faces. Jaune seems to take the initiative to respond.

"You can't seriously mean that you're gonna fight it alone. That's insane!" Jaune protested to the straw hat boy who did not budge. As much as he may be a weakling, having his new friend fend for himself would leave a bad taste in his mouth.

Ruby peers into her cousin's eyes and discovers the look of determination and confidence. She sighs to herself in frustration with a hint of sadness. Frustration for him being so stubborn and hogging a new Grimm to himself. Sadness for the fact that she doesn't get to support him directly.

'I promise that someday I'll be strong enough to actually help you instead of twiddling my thumbs Luffy.' Ruby solemnly thought.

"Come on guys... when he gets like this, he won't listen to anybody. Lets just go somewhere safe so we don't get caught up in the crossfire." Ruby announced resulting in a reluctant nod from the rest of the group.

Though to the observant eye, Ruby's smile was a little strained. She doesn't like it any more than the next person. Luffy approaches her before she could start moving and removes his straw hat to place it on Ruby's head.

"Hold onto it for me, I don't want to ruin it." Luffy told Ruby, to which she replied with a soft smile.

Whenever he lends his hat over to her or Yang, it is an unspoken promise that Luffy _will_ return to get it back. He does this to reassure them that they will see each other again or that he will not lose.

As they were making their way to a more elevated location to spectate the soon-to-be battleground clearly, Luffy spots Ren holding his side as he walked by him. Perhaps the Deathstalker did a number on him.

"Oi Ponytail Guy, you look pretty banged up." Luffy pointed out for Ren. Ren and Nora turn around with a raised brow before coming back to him.

"My name is Ren, not Ponytail Guy. And it's just a bruise, don't worry about it." Ren reassured him, although Luffy didn't look convinced with the effort it took him to walk over to him. A symbol appeared on his hand in the form of pink cherry blossoms, in homage to a jolly roger back at Chopper's home. The two notice the glow and can't help but wonder what that was supposed to be.

" **Memory Bond: Doctor** "

Luffy inspected the rib area by tenderly touching any possible spots that could cause Ren discomfort. Ren winced in pain when he found a few injuries. Luffy crossed his arms in thought of how it could be treated before scrounging around the medical pouch. He pulls out the light green ball he showed Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha before initiation started and hands it to a confused Ren.

"Some of your ribs are bruised so it hurts to walk. This should dull the pain and make aura heal it faster." Luffy simply stated before deactivating his semblance.

It was Ren's turn to inspect the item given to him before he shrugged his shoulders and popped it into his mouth. He is no expert in the medical field, so he'll just have to take his word for it. A few seconds after swallowing the medicine, the pain slowly dissipated and felt his aura get a sudden kick as it was working on the wound. He adopted a look of surprise at the recovery rate before giving a small smile in thanks for Luffy's help.

"Thanks second best buddy! Both for giving me the thunderbolt and making my bestest buddy, Ren, feel better. Oh, maybe you can break that thing's legs for us." Nora said with bubbly enthusiasm as she bear hugs Luffy and lifts him off the ground. Luffy just replies with the usual chuckle before being released and then the two finally left the area.

Silence filled the space as Luffy stood in the middle, waiting out the Berserker Kong. Eventually, the Grimm revealed itself at the edge of the clearing with rage in its eyes and the markings still had a bright glow. It was not alone however, for it brought along a horde of small Grimm with it. B.K intends to wear the human out with sheer numbers before going in for the kill.

Luffy gives a fearless gaze to the shroud of black beasts as they make their way towards him.

"I don't have time for weaklings like you. Get out of my way." Luffy said in a low tone. He unleashes a wave of Conqueror's Haki upon the blanket of Grimm. The dark creatures stopped in their tracks as they just stare at him in fear.

Since they don't have souls, the Grimm don't fall unconscious like every other living being. At the same time, he can't tame them as if they were wild animals.

The cannon fodder understood that they don't stand a chance against him and returned back to where they came from; avoiding a fight they know they can't win. B.K didn't waver at his overwhelming willpower, but it still got the job done.

"Yosh, now it's just you and me, gorilla." Luffy said as he cracked his knuckles.

 _With the others..._

Ruby and the others managed to find a great spot to observe the fight, which would be the summit of a hill near the clearing they recently left. It was close enough to clearly see what's going on and easy to intervene when things get dire with long ranged shooting, but distant to the point that they are out of the way.

By the time they started spectating, they spotted the gorilla that Luffy was talking about along with a horde of Grimm which caused them to panic for leaving him to fight so many enemies. Then their panic changed to that of a mix of disbelief, amazement, and curiosity after what happened next. The small fries ended up running away from him, thus leaving only the gorilla.

Yang and Ruby widened their eyes in realization at the Grimms' behavior.

"He must've used Conqueror's Haki to scare them off." Ruby said out loud but regretted it as soon as she got the curious gazes of the entire group except Yang.

She didn't want to be stuck explaining everything about his abilities to the rest of her friends, at least not yet. Ruby was sweating profusely at the undivided attention she was receiving.

"Ummm... oh look at that, Luffy is about to start his fight." Ruby lamely excused while giving a nervous laugh, causing Yang to pinch the bridge of her nose.

Ruby couldn't come up with an excuse to save her life at the best of times. However it worked somewhat considering that everyone slowly turned their attention to Luffy's location, much to Ruby's relief.

'This is going to be a looong day.' Yang thought to herself in a tired tone. They were just shelving away the topic for the time being. Once the fight is over, the two sisters are going to be interrogated.

 _With Luffy..._

B.K growled at him before rushing towards the boy. Luffy swung his arm to pump it and enter Second Gear then ran towards the big gorilla with incredible speed. His arm was behind him and twisted up before spinning back towards it when Luffy got inside its guard.

" **Gomu Gomu no Jet Rifle** "

In a blur of speed, his spinning fist landed a hit on the abdomen of the beast, sending it flying back through a few trees. Luffy heard a roar but was introduced to chunks of wood being hurled at him. He backed away to dodge the debris that would have hit him. A steamy B.K used the distraction to enter Luffy's blind spot and throw a punch at him, only for him to disappear from view. Luffy got in front of its face before cocking back his leg covered in Armament.

" **Gomu Gomu no Hawk Stamp** "

The lightning fast kick met the Grimms face causing it to reel back its head. It recovered more quickly than Luffy anticipated and landed a solid punch to the boy. Luffy was sent rocketing across the arena but stretched out his arms to grab a hold of the two pillars that was at each side. He deactivated Second Gear for the moment and imbued Armament into both his legs as he slowed to a stop from flying back.

" **Gomu Gomu no...** " he started as he sent himself back at his opponent at breakneck speeds. He put the bottoms of his feet together in preparation for the attack.

" **Javelin** "

By using a new technique that fused the ideas of his Rocket and Lance, the tips of his feet impacted B.K in the chest. The attack managed to crack a bit of the upper body armor through the slight puncture force it gave. B.K howled in pain as it was skidding back from the hit. The gorilla started exuding soft flames from the markings as it gave a deep growl.

Luffy raised a brow at the change before he received a swift blow that sent him crashing into the temple wall. He climbed out of the rubble and winced when he put a hand on his chest.

"Owowow... What's was up with that punch. That actually burned me a little." Luffy said in confusion. He looked over at B.K and noticed it fought a lot like someone familiar.

"Huh, that gorilla kind of reminds me of Yang. It gets stronger every time I hit it and now it burns things." Luffy thought out loud.

It is very much like how Yang's semblance worked in a way. Taking hits to improve overall performance and eventually enter a state of expelling flames from the body.

Yep, that definitely sounds like Yang. Yet in B.K's case, it's more of an innate ability rather than a semblance since Grimm don't have aura.

Luffy had a stupid grin on his face after thinking he figured out the mystery behind the gorilla's glowing markings.

He didn't get much time to think when B.K was in front of him throwing a barrage of wild punches, which he barely dodged. Luffy jumped away from his opponent before witnessing the Grimm lift a large pillar above its head and tossed it at him. Luffy leaped over the pillar and noticed another heading his way while he was in midair.

He gritted his teeth in annoyance until he thought of a counterattack.

" **Gomu Gomu no Stamp Gatling** "

Luffy launched a barrage of kicks at the approaching pillar and turned it into chunks of stone being repelled back to its owner. B.K crossed its arms to block the shower of rock, not noticing Luffy land on the ground and pumped his legs. He rushed at it with both arms covered in Armament behind him as he prepares another attack.

" **Gomu Gomu no Eagle Bazooka** "

Both palms smashed into the abdomen at mach speed causing a loud boom to be heard. B.K folded its body from the force before rocketing across the field and crashing through several trees beyond it. Luffy narrows his eyes at the direction he sent the beast while exiting Second Gear.

He is panting in exhaustion from using Second Gear so often since he didn't get that much to eat for breakfast. He may love eating food (especially meat), but it's also needed for the nutrients it gives which his Second Gear expends faster due to the increased metabolism.

"Damn, even with Second Gear and Armament, I'm not hitting it hard enough. I need to make him stop burning so I can hit it with Third Gear." Luffy said.

From what he can guess, a flaming B.K is too fast for him to get a solid hit so he needs to think of how to get rid of the flames. He tilts his head in thought as he tries to think of a plan of action. Though it looks strained since it takes a lot of effort to think for him. Luffy's eyes widen upon coming up with an idea and pounds his fist on his palm as if it was obvious.

"I got it! If that thing is hot, then I just have to make it cold. Hahaha, that sounds like a good idea. Good thing I have plenty of ice dust left." Luffy stated with a toothy grin. He never tapped into the ice dust in Soul Solid, used a tiny bit in Clima-Tact for the thundercloud, and shot one pellet from the Black Kabuto.

If he needs to make it really cold, he needs to use Soul Solid for a certain factor.

He draws Soul Solid out and activate the musician bond along with the ice dust. The blade starts to give off cold fumes since the blade itself is freezing to the touch.

He can't summon the winds of the underworld like Brook could because the ability is linked to his devil fruit.

Once again, dust has done a good job of substituting an effect that originally came from a dial or devil fruit.

B.K prowls onto the field with more intense flames on its bone armor, staring down on the human who proves to be a formidable adversary. Luffy stares back at it, not intimidated by its new appearance.

" **Buso** ( _Armament_ )" the arm holding the cane sword turned black and then soon after the sword itself followed suit. The blade slowly shifted from steel to a shimmering black while retaining the cold air around it.

Back with the spectators, Pyrrha stared slightly slack jawed at the familiar black blade in astonishment. It was not the first time she witnessed such a thing, but didn't think much on it when Luffy used it on his limbs.

"He can make a black blade just like the champion!?" Pyrrha exclaimed, earning several confused looks from the others. Ruby and Yang widen their eyes at the info and came to the same conclusion.

'There's someone else that can use Haki!' they thought in unison. Haki was something they thought that only Luffy and their family knew about. For there to be another Haki user would mean that this champion was also reborn into this world along with Luffy.

"Never figured that Straw Hat knows anything about fencing. And what's with that fog?" Weiss asked the sisters, seeing as they know the most about Luffy's combat skills. Judging by the shape of the blade, the cane sword looks more suited for thrusting but can be used for quick slashes like her rapier.

Ruby and Yang look at each other before shrugging their shoulders. That's one answer that they can give.

"He may be a brawler at heart, but he's at least proficient with Soul Solid." Ruby clarified the heiress.

"And that fog you're seeing... is just ice dust." Yang answered. Everyone raised a brow in confusion before she explained further.

"It's foggy around the blade because it is really cold to touch. The sword is designed to sap the heat from your body instead of making ice to trap someone." Yang said while giving a glance to Weiss. The others had a shiver go down their spine at the thought of losing their own body heat and freezing to death.

That's a cruel way to utilize ice dust.

In the clearing with Luffy, he pumps his sword arm before dashing at the gorilla. B.K swung a punch at him, but Luffy ducked under it and attacked.

" **Polka Remise** ( _Polka Continuation_ )"

A blur of sword thrusts stabbed into the gut almost simultaneously. The frigid temperature of the black blade affected B.K by stealing away its heat. In doing so, the flames slowly faded out of existence and is now replaced by the usual bright glow.

Luffy grins at the success of his simple plan before performing a backflip to avoid a slower punch from the Grimm. Now that the Berserker Kong lost those flames, it also lost some of its enhanced speed and strength. Luffy halts the use of Second Gear and points the tip of Soul Solid at B.K, aiming at the chest.

" **Aubade Coup Droit** ( _Dawn Serenade: Right-Handed Strike_ )"

He thrusts his cane sword forward, launching a highly compressed blast of air at the target. B.K somehow sees the attack and crossed its arms in defense before it got struck by an invisible force. It didn't receive any injuries, but the cold air mixed in with the air thrust chilled the arms that blocked it. Now the glow dimmed down slightly, weakening the creature further.

The effect wasn't as strong since the cold air blast was being warmed up by the outside air as it traveled through it.

"Yosh, one more hit and I should be able to finish this." Luffy declared with confidence. He proceeds to casually walk up to the beast, ready for whatever it might do. B.K uses what's left of its heated rage and charges at Luffy in a last ditch effort in killing him. Luffy pumps his legs one last time before disappearing from sight, only to reappear behind the Grimm.

The onlookers stare in confusion at the action, not seeing any attack made.

"Man, that technique looks so awesome but it sucks when you're the one getting hit by it." Yang commented. The students were still left in confusion and decided to watch what happens next.

The Armament left Soul Solid as Luffy continued walking. Not a single nick or scratch can be found on the blade despite the amount of use it sustained. He starts sheathing his sword until it got to the last bit of the sheath.

" **Kasuriuta: Fubuki Giri** ( _Pastoral Song: Blizzard Slash_ )"

With the 'click' of the sheath, a trail of ice struck B.K from shoulder to the hip on the other side. The black gorilla howled in pain at the wound across its torso. The glowing markings faded completely as it now looked like simple black engravings on the bone armor.

Luffy has very little aura left in his reserves after using his memory bonds for so long. He hopped once into the air before using the chef bond launch himself at B.K with Sky Walk. He brings up his thumb in front of his face in preparation for the finishing blow.

" **Third Gear: Hone Fusen** ( _Bone Balloon_ )"

Luffy bites into his thumb and blows air into it, inflating his own skeletal structure. Now the arm takes the form of an enormous wrecking ball with an equally large fist that dwarf the size of his body. The rest of his arm is still normal so he can still stretch it.

" **Busoshoku: Koka** ( _Armament: Hardening_ )"

The colossal fist shifted to shiny black as he reared it behind himself. Through an incredible feat of strength, he pulled his fist forward and threw his enlarged fist at his weakened enemy.

" **Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gun!"**

B.K knew it couldn't dodge the attack, so it settled for crossing its arms in futility as the giant punch connected. Both the armor and its bones shattered as the beast's feet left the ground immediately and was plowed through the forest trees. Even when the Elephant Gun stopped, the gorilla continued sailing until it reached a ravine with a stone structure that looks like a watchtower. The moment it crashed into the tower, the entire thing crumbled and sent the structure and the decaying Grimm into the abyss of the ravine.

Some of the people on the hill had their jaws hit the ground when they saw his Third Gear in action. Yang and Ruby on the other hand, were just facepalming themselves for using it in the first place. Jaune looked on with a twitching eye.

"AHH! Is there an end to his surprises!?" Jaune ranted, startling everyone with his shouting.

A great variety of medicine, a stretchy body, swordsmanship so fast that they never saw the attack, and the ability to enlarge his limbs to the point that it's the size of a giant... someone is bound to suffer a breakdown from all of the ridiculousness.

"Hahahaha, he actually broke that thing's legs. He's officially my second best buddy next to Ren." Nora piped in with immense glee. Ren sweatdropped at his partner's antics.

'More like he broke every bone in its body.' Ren thought to himself. They were broken from any further comments by Yang's snickering.

"Oh boy, it's time for the drawback to kick in." Yang announced, resulting in raised brows from the audience.

"Drawback?" Blake inquired.

They turn back to Luffy only to see him blow air out of his mouth which caused him to fly sporadically while screaming.

"Ugh... the sooner he gets rid of the drawback, the better. I can't take him seriously when it happens." Ruby complained in annoyance. Luffy told her it was one of his top priorities on the list of regaining his former strength, but he hasn't gotten rid of it just yet.

They continue to watch Luffy fly around until they notice that he's headed towards them.

'Is he... shrinking?' Blake mused before putting her arms out to catch Luffy, who has indeed shrunk.

In her arms is a tiny boy with a large head and clothes that mysteriously shrunk along with him.

"Yosh, I beat that stupid gorilla. Now we can leave so I can eat a lot of meat. I'm starving." Chibi Luffy said with a child-like voice. Everyone stood there dumbstruck by the appearance of the black haired boy that took out a powerful Grimm on his own. Then they started giggling before descending into full blown laughter. Luffy chuckled along, not knowing why they were laughing in the first place.

'Even if he _does_ look stupid, he still kind of looks adorable.' Blake thought to herself as she was giggling. She didn't even register Luffy telling her to let him go until he threw a punch at her forehead, which bounced off harmlessly. Blake raised a brow in amusement since the punch didn't hurt at all.

"Can you let me go now? I'm about to g-" Luffy started before he was interrupted by the sudden growth of his body. Blake was caught off balance due to the sudden change in weight and fell back with Luffy on top of her.

"Ow, should have seen that one coming. Luffy, can you get off of me?" Blake groaned out. Luffy complied after apologizing and got up then giving her a hand to which she took.

"Awww, please stay on top of her. It looked so cute and suggestive." Yang whined at losing the adorable scene. Ruby and Luffy didn't understand where she was going with this, but the others sported a light tint of red on their cheeks. Blake aimed a small glare at her partner for the insinuation.

Before Ruby forgot, she returned the straw hat to Luffy with him giving a 'thank you' for it. The group moved towards the cliffs to end their initiation and be sorted into teams.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Just for a little bit, I wanted Luffy to have the Third Gear drawback for comedic effect. It never said _how_ he got rid of it in canon.**

 **Please send reviews for feedback.**


	9. Teams and Truths

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 9**

The group of friends have recently returned to Beacon and are in the middle of team announcements. Ozpin called out team CRDL (Cardinal) as four tall guys walked on stage as if they were big shots. In order of the names that made the team name, you have Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark.

The team assignment wasn't why Ruby was so nervous. It was the fact that Yang, Luffy, and herself are going to be stuck explaining everything about Luffy's reincarnation to their new friends. It's only fair that they know about it instead of keeping them in the dark.

Luffy on the other hand was excited because he found the secret relic and is anxious to know what special thing he gets for it.

Luckily they got to eat a meal after initiation to make sure they don't go hungry, much to Luffy's delight. Oddly enough, the restriction was lessened a little bit so it was more tolerable for Luffy to handle. The sisters are left clueless as to why.

Team CRDL walked off stage before Ozpin brought up the next team.

"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren... you have collected the white rook pieces and shall be known as team JNPR (Juniper), lead by... Jaune Arc!" Ozpin announced to the students.

The newly appointed leader gaped at the headmaster in disbelief. He doesn't see how he qualified as a leader, but he'll do all he can for his team. His friends congratulated him on his position before his partner gave him a pat on the back. The pat was too hard for him so he ended up falling over comically, causing a bout of laughter from the students and an apology from Pyrrha. Ozpin gave a small smile to them before getting back on topic.

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long... you have collected the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will be called team RWBY (Ruby), lead by... Ruby Rose!" another round of applause was heard in the building as the four girls stared at each other with mixed reactions.

"Way to go sis!" Yang cheered as she bear hugged Ruby, who was looking just as wide eyed as Jaune when he got picked to be a leader.

Blake had a look of indifference since she didn't care if she was leader or not.

"W-w-wha?" Ruby stuttered in confusion. This would make her by far the youngest leader in Beacon. Luffy chuckled at his cousin's dumbstruck face.

"I think it would be obvious since you came up with a plan for the Nevermore. The same could be said for Jaune since he planned a course of action against the Deathstalker." Weiss reasoned with her partner. She may be a bit upset at not being the leader, but she said it herself that she would help Ruby whenever she needs it, regardless of position.

Ruby takes the explanation as Weiss' acceptance of her position and gave her a smile which Weiss returned. Soon after, everyone turned their attention to Luffy since he wasn't called yet.

"Luffy D. Branwen, would you come up to the stage please?" Ozpin requested the boy. Luffy grins at this and jumps over to the platform next to him.

"Now then... you have recovered the unique black king piece, but you won't necessarily be put in a four man team." he started off which resulted in a raised brow from Luffy and murmurs of confusion from the audience. "Instead you will be the only team with just one unit. Should the need ever arise, you'll be inserted into another team as the fifth member in future missions and vice versa. You have proven yourself capable of taking on a very strong Grimm such as the Berserker Kong on your own and the traits of a leader." Ozpin continued on.

All of the first years had questioning looks since they never heard of such a Grimm. Some of the second years and the entirety of the third and fourth years do know of B.K and know how much effort it takes to get rid of one. They looked incredulous at the thought of a rookie being able to accomplish such a feat on his own.

"It's nothing to get worked up over Ozzy." Luffy told Ozpin who smiled at the humbleness.

Teams RWBY and JNPR heard the news with wide eyes. It was like saying that Luffy was strong enough to be on his own team. Some of them would agree with Ozpin on his judgement but Weiss refuses to acknowledge the fact.

'There is no way that complete idiot is better than me!' she thought to herself in anger. Ruby notices this and frowns at her partner's attitude. This was going to be problem that she can't do much about. Ruby can't change Weiss' opinion of Luffy, and hopefully it gradually gets better over time.

"This concludes our opening ceremony and we will start classes tomorrow. All students will receive a scroll as a key to your dorms along with your class schedule." Glynda informed the huntsmen in training. Ruby and Yang stared at their cousin with dull eyes.

"You hear that Luffy, your getting a scroll that's _needed_. You better not lose it!" Yang admonished. Luffy just grins and rubs the back of his head. Ozpin walks up to the group before they proceeded to leave.

"If you don't mind, I would like to speak to you all in my office. There are some things I would like to discuss with you." Ozpin requested the nine students. Everyone raised a brow a this, wondering what kind of discussion he wants to have with them.

* * *

The trip to the headmaster's office was very silent and uneventful. The sun was close to setting as they made their way into the elevator that would take them to their destination. Everyone remained quiet, even Luffy and Nora, and had many thoughts as to why Ozpin needed to speak to them.

When they reached the top floor, they were greeted to the sight of an open room with a single desk and clockwork gears below the floor and visible through the ceiling.

Ozpin is currently sitting behind the desk with his hands interlaced together waiting for them to get comfortable. This could be a very lengthy discussion.

"Professor, can you at least tell us why you brought us here?" Ruby asked with a tone of anxiety. The professor adopted a look of contemplation, trying to collect his thoughts on where to start.

"I brought you here to help disclose the details of Luffy's circumstances with the rest of your team as well as team JNPR. By default, your team was going to know anyway. Team JNPR may as well know too if they are going to be close to you and Luffy. The explanation also involve his assortment of abilities which they seem very curious about." the headmaster explained to the students. They perked up at this, indeed very curious on the matter.

The two teams were already on friendly terms, and withholding information that could be staring at them in the face can cause trust issues later. While it does mean that they will have the knowledge forced upon them, hanging around Luffy will inevitably get them involved with or without knowing.

He'd prefer if they got a heads up before then.

Ruby sighs in relief for the help, but Yang wonders one other thing that bugs her.

"What if they don't believe us? This is something that anyone would think is very unbelievable." Yang reasoned.

"Oh please, what kind of secret does Straw Hat have that makes us think of it as a false story?" Weiss challenged. All she got was a chuckle from Ozpin which she looked confused by.

"I find it amusing that you would use his actual epithet." Ozpin said as he pulls out a worn poster from the desk drawer. The gang get a closer look to see a wanted poster with a picture of Luffy with a wide grin. There were a few things that only added more questions, like the currency and his name.

"'Monkey D. Luffy, wanted dead or alive with a bounty of 400,000,000... beli'? That doesn't seem right." Blake said with a raised brow and everyone nodding. His full name doesn't match exactly and she never heard of a different currency other than lien. Luffy picks up the bounty with a look of nostalgia.

"Yeah, that's who I was before coming to this world. I guess dad gave this to you, huh Ozzy." Luffy said with a grin.

It was rather strange that the bounty poster came to him through the mail. While there was no name for the person who sent it, Luffy had a feeling it was the salesman since he also had the Gum Gum Fruit with him.

"What do you mean 'who you were'? Did you come from another planet and change names?" Jaune asked jokingly, but Luffy shook his head. Although, he wasn't really all that far off.

"Reincarnation."

Everyone turned their attention to the person who uttered the word, Ozpin.

"Luffy has been reincarnated from his old world to Remnant. In his old world, he was a renowned pirate under the name of 'Straw Hat Luffy' and was also the Pirate King." Ozpin informed them.

Everyone had incredulous looks on their faces, not really believing it. Nora, who can be open minded, had a glint of amazement for knowing someone infamous. She wasn't really scared of him being a pirate because she believes him to be a nice guy.

"You expect us to believe that!? Is this some kind of joke!?" Weiss exclaimed in disbelief. Ozpin calmly raised a hand to quiet the heiress before continuing.

"No I don't. That's why I'm going to ask you this question. Through all your studies and vast knowledge of Remnant... have you ever heard of Haki?" the grey haired man inquired. Weiss raised an inquisitive brow at the word, clearly not familiar with the word.

"Well allow me to define it for you in my opinion. Where as Aura is the manifestation of our souls, Haki is the manifestation of will." Ozpin defined it with an analogy. The white haired girl nodded in understanding, even though she wonders why hardly anybody knows about it.

"Haki? Come to think of it, Ruby mentioned something about Conqueror's Haki back in initiation." Pyrrha recalled.

"Yup, it's one of the three types of Haki that Luffy uses." Ruby clarified for them, speaking up instead of the professor.

"And the other two types?" Ren asked her.

"Observation and Armament. Some of you already seen it in action up close." Yang noted.

They went over some of the telltale signs of someone using Haki. After that, their eyes widened upon realizing Luffy did in fact use Haki.

"That explains how he was able to find everyone near the temple. I thought you were either guessing or psychic because of how accurate you were." Blake said with a tone of intrigue.

"So then... that black blade was him using Armament?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, but for the most part you imbue it on your limbs before you do it to the weapon your holding. When you told us that the champion uses it too, that could only mean that-" Ruby started before being interrupted by another voice.

"Luffy is not the only one reincarnated into this world, right?" Ozpin completed the sentence. Ruby was startled at the conclusion but nodded her head.

"That's what Ruby and I thought. The only ones that we know that can use Haki are Luffy, dad, and uncle Qrow. Even if the champion himself was not reincarnated, he could still be taught by someone else who is." Yang theorized. It was very unlikely that a Remnant-born person would unlock Haki on their own by chance.

"All that aside, how does this prove anything about Luffy being from a different world?" Jaune asked.

"Because Haki was really common in my world. We didn't have aura or semblances." Luffy replied. Everyone turns to him with wide eyes at the thought of fighting with no aura shield to save yourself.

"Oh oh oh, what about his stretchy body? Is that his semblance?" Nora wondered with bubbly glee.

"Nora... I don't think there would be a semblance that alters your body composition like that." Ren countered, earning him a pout from Nora.

"Besides, Ruby said that his semblance works with his weapons." Jaune said to the two.

"Nope, it's not my semblance. I got my rubber body from a devil fruit called the Gum Gum Fruit." Luffy said to them. The others quirked a brow at the explanation before Ozpin spoke up for him.

"That was another thing commonly found in his world. They're strange fruits that give a special power whenever it is consumed, at the cost of being weak to water. If there are other incarnates in Remnant, chances are that we might see other devil fruit users. I only hope we don't have a logia user to deal with as an enemy." Ozpin told them with a tone of worry at the end.

"What do you mean? Is that the most powerful of its kind." Ren asked the headmaster.

"In a lot of ways, yes. But it's not so much as they are all very destructive, it's how you fight such opponents. They are said to be invulnerable to almost any attack we can throw at them because they become an element of nature itself." Ozpin explained.

Jaune paled at the thought of an invincible opponent that he can't win against, even though he's not much of a good fighter himself.

"E-e-element of nature? You mean like being made out of fire or light?" a scared Jaune asked reluctantly, fearing the answer to his question. Ozpin and Luffy nodded their heads in confirmation and Jaune bowed his head in gloom. "How do you hurt something like that?"

You can't just simply hurt an element by slashing or shooting.

"You have to have Armament Haki. It's the only thing that can allow you to land a hit on a devil fruit user in general. Something about hitting the 'substantial body' underneath it?" Luffy informed while activating Robin's bond. Might as well to help the headmaster out. Yang decides to elaborate on that note.

"Let's say that I have Armament Haki. Normally, punches don't work on Luffy. But if my fists had Armament, I could actually hurt him as if he had a normal body." Yang said.

They widened their eyes at this, thinking how handy it is to have.

"Hey! Observation Haki is helpful too. Sometimes its better to not get hit at all." Ruby whined at Yang who had a sheepish look for disregarding the other Haki type.

Through out most of the lecture about Luffy's past life and abilities, Weiss has been keeping her distance with Luffy with a scowl on her face. Knowing that the person next to you was once an infamous criminal can be very unnerving. Ruby turns to notice this and wants to bring up the topic that everyone seemed to ignore, even though it was something worth acknowledging.

"If you're worried about Luffy being a bad pirate, don't be. He's not like the other pirates that we make them out to be." Ruby tried to reassure her partner, but it seems to have little effect. Ruby's voice brought Luffy's attention to her and Weiss and can only stare with an impassive look.

"What makes you think that he's telling the truth about that. He could have been lying the entire time." Weiss rebuked, earning her a disapproving look from Ruby and Yang. The blonde thought of an idea to let them know of Luffy's ability to lie.

"Hey Luffy, over the past week did you take cookies from Ruby's personal cookie jar... twice?" Yang deadpanned to her cousin.

Ruby perks up and looks aghast at Luffy. Luffy just averts his gaze to the side and starts whistling. The corner of the scythe wielder's lips started twitching in subtle anger at the action.

"Umm... No." Luffy lied horribly, causing everyone to facefault at the attempt.

'He can't lie to save his life.' they thought in unison. At least they don't have to worry about Luffy lying to them, they would know right away if he did.

Ruby snapped and jumped on Luffy and started hitting his head repeatedly with an angry pout on her face, with the straw hat boy trying to pry her off while apologizing. Ruby's punches are so weak, it looked like a toddler was beating on his head without any lumps appearing.

Weiss sweatdropped at her partner's childish demeanor, deciding to give Luffy the benefit of the doubt. It's still ridiculous to believe, but through what little time she spent with the moron, he doesn't seem like the type. But she can't believe he's all good since she was never born in his world to find out the truth.

Blake decides to move on with the discussion that was previously going on.

"So if his black limbs is using Haki and the rubber body is from a devil fruit, then what exactly is his semblance?" she asked them. Luffy gets Ruby off of him after she finished pounding his head before showing Blake the glowing symbol on his hand. Ren and Nora notice this and quirked a brow at it. They saw a glowing symbol but it wasn't like that.

"Memory Bonding. My crewmates are inside of me and I can borrow whatever they know." Luffy explained in vague detail, confusing the audience.

"He means that the spirits of his crewmates from his past life dwell within him and he can gain the knowledge of their fighting style among other things. But he can only use that knowledge as long as he has a connection to them. So anything other than his Haki, devil fruit, and hand to hand combat is actually from his crew and not himself." Ozpin elaborated for them.

"Yeah, but since this world doesn't have some of the things that they use, I have to use Dust to replace that. And I can't use the devil fruit abilities that some of my crew members have." Luffy noted.

Everyone adopts a look of understanding as they put together the pieces of info laid out for them. Though one thing seemed to bother Jaune.

"So wait, your chef can walk on air. You have one heck of a group." Jaune said to Luffy who chuckled.

"Hmmm... well, thanks for letting us in on this secret. Forgive me Luffy, but your story is hard to believe. It's going to take a while for us to accept this." Pyrrha told him politely, with the others nodding their head in agreement. Luffy just grins at them.

"I'm not forcing you to believe it. That's for you to decide, not me." Luffy said to her which she smiled back.

"Now that we got most of that out of the way, any questions you may have later can be brought up to them. I do, however, have one more thing to discuss. It's about a certain risk you have on yourself when you use this 'Second Gear'." Ozpin brought up, causing Luffy to turn his attention to him. Ruby and Yang looked at him in shock of figuring out the drawback.

Everyone had a look of thought as they try to recall what his Second Gear was.

"Oh, you mean when he gets all pink and steamy?" Nora remembered. That skill looked so cool to her that she may have thought of something new. The others realized what she was talking about. Yang was able to piece together recent events with his Second Gear.

"That's why he ended up with more food at the cafeteria. You were looking out for him." Yang said, really thankful for the consideration the headmaster shown. The group remained clueless at this, unable to comprehend the problem. Ozpin simply nodded his head.

"When he pumps his limbs, he accelerates the blood flow in his body which provides more nutrients and oxygen. Since his body is made of rubber, his blood vessels won't tear and his heart won't give out due to excess pressure. The increase in nutrients and oxygen allow him to become faster and stronger." Ozpin gave a rundown of the positive effects of Luffy's technique.

The two teams were left in wonder at the creative use of his rubber body, but fear what the negative side is. Yang decides to fill them in on that.

"Since he's using up the nutrients faster, he makes himself hungrier than normal. But if he runs low on energy..." Yang stopped herself as she had a look of dread.

"He runs the risk of shortening his lifespan." Ruby finished with a sullen tone. Simply put, as long as Luffy is well fed, the chances are very unlikely.

The rest of the group looked towards Luffy, who has his eyes covered by the rim of his hat, with concern.

"It's alright guys, I'm very good with the technique. That's why I only pump one or two limbs for a short time." Luffy reassured them, though they still kept their worried gazes.

"Even so Straw Hat, you can't just brush this off as if it's no big deal. This is about your life." Weiss scolded him. Ruby looked at Weiss with surprise upon hearing the Ice Queen actually not yell at Luffy for once.

"As long as my friends and family are safe, that doesn't matter." Luffy argued. A gloomy atmosphere loomed over them after hearing his declaration.

They can't help but find his conviction admirable but it hurts to hear him say that with no fear. They don't approve of it, but they can't argue against it. All they can do is support him and respect his decision.

"I see you've made up your mind on this. I guess I just wanted to hear it with my own ears. As headmaster I want you, our student, to at least try to preserve your own life as well as others. Can you promise me that?" Ozpin asked of Luffy.

"Shishishi, then you would be with the rest of my family. I promised them that I won't die so early. I intend to live a long life like I did in the last one." Luffy told him. Yang and Ruby smiled at this, glad that he remembered their promise.

"Well then... that will be all. I look forward to your efforts in Beacon Academy." Ozpin said with a small smile. Teams RWBY, JNPR, and Luffy waved/bowed before entering the elevator to leave. Ozpin just stayed in his desk, thinking about the conversation that transpired.

"This year is going to be quite interesting." he said with a hint of amusement.

* * *

The shattered moon was out as the group of teens were making their way through the dormitory making small talk.

"We never bothered to know, but how many beli does it take to make one lien?" Jaune asked the family trio. They adopted a look of thought, trying to come up with an accurate translation of currency.

"It's really hard to say... in my opinion it might be either a hundred beli or a thousand beli." Ruby answered with uncertainty.

Everyone had a cold sweat at the answer. It didn't matter which way it was, four million or four hundred thousand was still a fortune. It only goes to show how powerful he was back then.

Blake looked pensive at the new take on the bounty and had a sudden inquiry appear.

"What did you do to get a high bounty? Ruby says you're not like the others, but you still have one anyways." Blake wondered.

"Hmmm... I just did stuff like fight in a war and beat up some important people that are being jerks. But that's not the highest bounty I've had, it was a lot higher than that when I became Pirate King." the former pirate told her. Before they could ask anything, Jaune decided to voice out a more worrying thing he mentioned.

"W-war? Why would you be in something like that? How old were you then?" he asked in a panicked tone, in fear of the answers he would receive. This happy go lucky person didn't look the type to involve himself in war for no reason.

"To save my brother... I was seventeen." was all they got out of him in an emotionless tone. Jaune's heart sank even further upon hearing that, but at the same time found it commendable that he would go so far for the sake of family.

"S-sorry for bringing that up. I just wanted to know because my great-great-grandfather once fought a war." the blonde boy informed.

After that, the conversation dropped and silence took its place. They still had so many questions, but decided not to pry any further for now. After hearing about something as dreary as war, they stopped in fear of bringing up old memories that are best left forgotten. Luffy stops himself in realization of something, causing the others to turn to him.

"... I get a room all to myself!" he cheered while doing a fist pump. Some of them flinched at the volume and 'shhh' him, only for Luffy to sheepishly rub the back of his head.

"We should probably exchange scroll numbers to get access to your room." Yang suggested. Luffy agreed with her while he learned how to do just that since he never really used a scroll all that much.

"Hey Luffy, maybe WE can start learning this Haki thing that you do." Nora said, resulting in thoughtful looks from the rest of them.

"It... might be better if you started now than later. Haki can take a long time to unlock." Ruby admitted to them.

"Wait, couldn't Luffy unlock ours' like how someone unlocks another person's aura?" Pyrrha asked, getting a negative from Luffy.

"You guys have to do it yourselves. I can teach you how to, but I can't do it for you." Luffy informed her.

"How long does it take to get both types?" Ren asked. Ruby and Yang looked at them with nervousness.

"Depends on the person's affinity. Since Luffy did it before, it only took him one year to get it back. Our dad and uncle... took five years to get both types." Yang begrudgingly told them. They gaped at her after hearing the amount of time it could possibly take.

"B-but what about you two? Do you have at least one type?" Jaune wondered. The sisters bowed their heads in depression, as if giving him his answer.

"We're at year two, and we don't have either one. I'm trying to get Observation first, and Yang wants to learn Armament." Ruby sulked. She hoped she was getting closer to achieving it.

"We can worry about that later. Right now, we need to sleep for tomorrow." Blake told them. Everyone nodded in agreement and found their rooms, which are all next to each other. They all gave their goodnights and changed into their pajamas before turning in for the night.

For the group that just learned of Luffy's past life, it may be hard to take all of it in. But it will eventually become normal for them and accept the possible fact that he was the former Pirate King.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 ***Sigh* Another one of those sluggish 'questioning' chapters. Now we get into the official first day in Beacon.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	10. More to Being a Huntsmen

**Sorry about the later-than-usual update.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 10**

Morning has arrived at Beacon as Ruby, Blake, and Yang are looking down on the sleeping heiress. They woke up earlier to get a head start on some of the activities that they wanted to get done before class begins.

Ruby places the whistle in her mouth as the other two clamp their hands over their ears to try and block the noise.

One high pitched blow later, Weiss bolted up wide awake with a scream.

Weiss tries to calm her fast beating heart from the jump scare and glares at Ruby.

"There better be a valid reason to blow that infernal trinket in my ear Ruby!" an annoyed Weiss said. She looks at the clock to find out that it's 7:00 in the morning. According to the schedule, classes start at nine o'clock.

"We have a lot to fit in two hours so we may as well get started. We got to decorate our room, wake Luffy up, get breakfast..." Ruby started listing off her personal checklist before Weiss cut her off.

"Okay, why exactly do _we_ have to wake him up? He can get himself out of bed." Weiss said with a bit of irritation.

"If only it were that easy. Whenever he sleeps, it's nearly impossible to wake him up with loud noises." was Yang's reply. The heiress lets out a sigh of exasperation as she accepts the answer.

"Fine, but Ruby... we don't have time to decorate _and_ have breakfast before class. I still need to change into my school uniform." Weiss reasoned with her team leader/partner. Ruby ponders on how to at least do something about their room and still be on time for class.

"Okay, while you get ready, we'll get Luffy up and at least get the bunk beds set up." Ruby said with cheerfulness at the thought of having bunk beds. This was already planned out when initiation ended and she talked to Luffy about having his help.

Weiss quirks a brow at her, wondering how they would manage that. Nonetheless, she approves of the plan since Ruby seems confident enough to fit that in two hours.

While Weiss went to the bathroom to change and Ruby pushing the luggage to the side, Blake and Yang moved over to the door next to theirs. Using the access code that Yang got from Luffy last night, they unlocked the door to find the raven haired boy sprawled out on the bed snoring. The room itself looked bare with only a bed, desk, bookshelf, and a huge backpack that is as tall as the ceiling.

Blake was caught off guard by the luggage in the room and much less so by the fact that Luffy is sleeping topless. She thought he was one of those guys that want to show off from the night before initiation. She gives Yang a dull look when she spots her partner giving a shit eating grin for some reason.

"So Blake, what kind of 'pack' do you like more?" Yang teased. Blake knew if she chose one or the other, Yang would still have something to say. Either pick the boy with a noticeable six pack or a backpack that looks like you can hide a few people inside for 'fun activities'. So she just didn't reply at all.

Why was the blonde constantly teasing her so much when it came to Luffy?

Yang walked up to the foot of the bed and grabbed Luffy's ankles and flung him over herself before slamming him against the floor face first. Blake was about to protest on the wake up call before remembering that the rubber man can't get hurt from that.

Still though, wouldn't it be better to shake him awake.

"Eh... morning already?" Luffy said as he is wide awake. He doesn't even realize that he got unceremoniously planted on the floor by his cousin.

"Yep, good morning sleepy head. Go on and get changed, we need your help with making bunk beds for our room before breakfast." Yang informed Luffy who yawned and waved her off before realizing he was about to miss a meal. After that, he took the set of clothes and dashed into the bathroom.

"Did you really have to do that to wake him up?" Blake asked Yang incredulously.

"Hey, you can't just do a soft shake of his body and expect a heavy sleeper like him to wake up. You have to be rough with him." Yang responded. Blake contemplated on Yang's logic before turning her attention to the large object in the room.

"Well... while he is getting ready, what exactly is in that?" Blake inquired, gesturing to the giant backpack. Team JNPR came into his room shortly after hearing a loud thump, only to gawk at the colossal object upon entering.

"Mostly tools and equipment for making more pellets and medicine. But right now, we need tools, nails, and wood." Yang listed off to them. She opens up the bag and fishes out a toolbox with a box of nails and planks.

Jaune stares at the items she's holding and then shifted his gaze to the bag next to her. All he could do is come to one conclusion.

'Just how much can this guy lift?' he thought to himself with a hint of fear. When he first met Luffy, he was carrying the same backpack like it didn't weigh anything.

"Wow! His room feels a lot more bigger than ours. All of our rooms are kinda cramped with four beds." Nora said with jealousy.

"Nora, you're not barging into Luffy's room because it's bigger." Ren told his childhood friend who pouted at him.

Luffy walks out of the bathroom in his uniform with some minor alterations. All he did was roll up the sleeves up to the middle of his bicep and kept his sandals, yellow sash, and straw hat.

"Yosh, time to make bunk beds and eat some food." Luffy said with enthusiasm. Yang hands him the tools and materials needed for the project as he walks out the door.

"Is woodworking one of his skills from his semblance?" Pyrrha guessed.

"Yeah... among other things." Yang replied as she followed Luffy with the others in tow.

Ruby and Weiss were waiting outside their dorm and spotted Luffy.

"Morning Luffy, I moved our stuff out of the way to give you more room to work with." Ruby informed him. The straw hat boy grinned at the two before activating his semblance. A sky blue glow appears with a symbol of a mallet.

" **Memory Bond: Shipwright** "

He enters team RWBY's dorm to start working on the small project. Team's RWBY and JNPR were left outside the room waiting and can hear what sounds like construction inside. Weiss had a thought of a possible scenario.

"What would we have to do if Luffy wasn't able to make it?" Weiss asked her team leader. She won't admit it, but she loved to have bunk beds either way.

"Hmmm... if it was us, we would've used some books for support or have one of the beds held up by rope." she answered. The others shuddered at the image of a deathtrap hanging above them, mostly Weiss and Blake.

After a while, the sounds stopped and the door opened to them to reveal two legitimate bunk beds on each side of the room.

"Whew, it's all done you guys." Luffy cheered while dusting off his hands. Everyone marveled at how well it was built, as if it was never two separate beds in the first place.

"It's rather impressive that you did that in about five minutes." Pyrrha commented.

"Meh, Franky could make this in less than one." Luffy humbled himself. They proceeded to walk to the cafeteria at a leisurely pace since the bunk beds were made faster than they thought.

"That reminds me, what was your crew like? Were they really strong? Did some of them have devil fruits like you?" Nora asked in quick succession, causing Luffy to back up slightly from the overload in questions.

"One question at a time Nora, he's not going to be able to answer them all at once." Ren told her. He knew as soon as Nora found out there was more to someone, she will shoot a barrage of questions so fast that anyone can be overwhelmed.

It was bound to happen and he can't stop it, just slow down the onslaught.

"Umm... yeah some of my crew do have devil fruits. Robin has the Flower Flower fruit, Brook ate the Revive Revive fruit, and Chopper got turned to a reindeer-man by eating the Human Human fruit." Luffy answered the last question asked.

The sudden inquiries caught him off guard and he got lost in the middle of all of them.

Blake perks up upon hearing the last devil fruit.

"You mean to say that a reindeer ate a fruit that gave him human traits?" she wondered. If it were a human that ate it, then they would lose their swimming ability in exchange for nothing.

"Well he gained the mind of a human, so he can walk and talk like us. He even eats things that reindeer don't normally eat." Luffy elaborated with the help of Chopper's bond. The only person that would know the exact details of the fruit is the user himself.

"Lets just get to the cafeteria to eat, we can ask him more questions later." Weiss abruptly ended the conversation. The others reluctantly agreed, even though it was rather rude.

"Geez, why do you have to be _Weiss_ cold?" Yang punned, resulting in a groan from everyone and a laugh from Luffy. Luffy's laugh only makes Ruby want to cry.

"The dastardly Pun Train has started." Ruby muttered.

"Come again?" Juane asked.

"Yang is the train full of puns and Luffy is the engineer by encouraging her to make more puns." Ruby said with a tone of dread.

After thinking about it for a little bit, they understand what she means.

"We can always torture her to stop." Blake joked. Ruby didn't take the joke too kindly.

"I don't care if it stops the puns, I'm not going to torture my sister!" she shouted at the amber eyed girl while wildly waving her arms. Blake raises her hands in a placating gesture, trying to convince Ruby that it was a joke.

They managed to get to the cafeteria and pick out their meals. The options mostly included common breakfast items like eggs, bacon, and pancakes (much to Nora's joy). They sat around one table with one side having team JNPR and Ruby in the middle. The other side had Weiss, Yang, Luffy, and Blake, with Luffy sitting across from his cousin.

As they were eating, Luffy tried to snake his arm toward Jaune's plate to pilfer some extra food while eating. This was stopped by a knife digging into the table between Luffy's hand and Jaune's plate.

The sound of the metal utensil garnered the attention of everyone at the table as well as a scared Jaune. Luffy sweated a little bit as he turned his head to Ruby, who had another knife in her hand.

"Luffy... keep your hands on your own food." Ruby warned.

Luffy knew she would never hurt him, but it's still scary when a sharp object nearly hits his hand. He chuckled sheepishly as he retracts his hand back while everyone stares at Ruby.

"W-what? Why are you staring at me?" she asked nervously.

"Why in the world would you take up knife throwing?" Jaune asked.

"Back at home, Luffy would always try to take some food from our plates. But it became less frequent when uncle Qrow started throwing knives to stop Luffy's stretchy hand. Ruby wanted to learn how to throw knives because it looked so cool and ninja-like, along with stopping Luffy from taking any food when our uncle wasn't with us for dinner or lunch. At this point, she can throw them with pinpoint accuracy. I would learn it too, but it's just not my style." Yang told the story to the others.

"Cool... she could be an undercover assassin in the guise of an innocent girl." Nora thought out loud with the others sweatdropping at her imagination.

"S-so anyway, what else can you make with the shipwright bond?" Pyrrha inquired, trying to change the subject. It really wasn't a topic to discuss during a meal.

It seemed to have worked since Yang started showing a beaming smile for some apparent reason.

"Bumblebee." Yang said in a dreamy trance. Everyone quirks a brow at the one word.

"The name of her motorcycle. It took Luffy a whole year to learn how to make it." Ruby explained. It was a test on how well he adjusted to one of his bonds. He tests himself as a way to see how far he has improved for some of his bonds.

All eyes were on him in shock of not buying a vehicle, but manufacturing it yourself.

"Umm... Yang is in her dreamworld again Ruby." Luffy noted as the blonde was hugging him with a delighted expression. She can't help but want to meet Franky and thank him for giving Luffy the info on how to make such a thing.

"Although it was pretty sad that by the time he made it, Yang shouldn't even be allowed to drive it because she didn't have a license." Ruby added on with a dull look. Just because she didn't have one didn't stop her from driving her beloved motorcycle anyway. Yang pouted at her for reminding her of the fact.

At least she has a license now.

After they finished with their meal, they went ahead and left for their first class of the day. Team RWBY and Luffy share the same class while JNPR had to go their separate ways for another class.

Their first class was Grimm Studies with Professor Port.

The professor is a middle aged man with grey hair and mustache and is slightly overweight. His attire consists of a double breasted burgandy suit with gold piping and buttons and pants of the same color tucked into his olive shoes. His eye color has never been known since his eyes are always closed. His weapon seems to be a blunderbuss with a battle axe attached.

"Grimm come in many names... monsters, demons, spawns of darkness, and many others. But to me, all I can call them is prey." Port tried an attempt at humor, but it fell on deaf ears.

Ruby would have fallen asleep if it wasn't for his boisterous laugh after the statement and Weiss nudging her awake.

"As of now, this world is filled to the brim with creatures that will tear you apart without hesitation. Which is what brings us here as huntsmen and huntresses." he continued with the speech while giving a flirtatious wink towards Yang at the mention of huntresses, who was creeped out by the gesture.

While Weiss was paying close attention to his words, she casts a glance to the side to see the straw hat boy asleep with his head on the desk. Anger rose in her as she looks at him slumbering, not even trying to focus.

"Now, allow me to tell you a story of adventure from my younger years." Port told the students before getting self-absorbed into his own story. Luffy, surprisingly enough, woke up at the mention of adventure and was listening to the tale. His expression was that of a gullible child, enamored by his story.

Everyone else either fell asleep like he did earlier or just wasn't paying attention. The professor doesn't seem to notice or care if they were listening or not. Weiss and Luffy were the only ones paying attention, albeit for different reasons.

Weiss was legitimately taking notes whenever she can, while Luffy was just listening to the story that he found exciting. The heiress was livid at how one moment Luffy was lazing about in class, but the very next moment he gives his undivided attention without writing a single note.

The rest of her team wasn't faring well either. Ruby was doodling funny pictures, Blake was reading a book not related to school, and Yang was tempted to enter a peaceful slumber. Jaune, who is in a different part of the class, was slowly dozing off. Thankfully, Port was just about done with his story.

"And that, my students, are the qualities of a true huntsmen. They must honorable, dependable, strategic, well-educated, and wise." he listed off the traits of huntsmen to the class. Yang and Ruby were making an internal checklist on what traits Luffy has.

'Lets see... dependable, check. Strategic, nope. Well-educated, definite nope. Wise... on very few occasions. Honorable..." they stopped their train of thought as they suppressed a shudder at the memories of how Luffy fights.

During some of their spars, Luffy would sometimes grab one of them and use the victim as a human shield to take the blow from the other. Either Yang punches Ruby in the face or Ruby slams Yang's side with her scythe. In some of the spars in Signal, he won't hesitate to kick a guy in the 'family jewels', as Luffy would call them.

Ruby looks over to her cousin with a soft smile at his childish wonder. But it was quickly replaced with worry upon seeing her partner seething in anger towards him. There was more to the animosity than just him being an idiot.

"Which of you believe to have these qualities?" Port asked amongst the group. In an instant, Weiss and Luffy raised their hands at the same time. They looked at each other in confusion momentarily before Luffy gave her a grin.

"Well then, since we have two volunteers, why don't you prove your mettle by facing such beasts?" Port challenged them as a large cage made an appearance in the middle of the classroom. Everyone stares at the cage in shock of pulling off such a feat by capturing a Grimm.

While the duo left their seats to change into their combat attire, Ruby was looking very nervous about the outcome. Yang and Blake seem to take notice of this.

"What's wrong, Rubes? I doubt those two are going to get hurt by some small Grimm." Yang tried to reassure, but Blake catches on to the main problem.

"It's not the Grimm you're worried about. It's Weiss' hostility to Luffy, isn't it?" Blake guessed with Ruby nodding.

"I wish she could just get past his idiocy and carefree attitude." Ruby said softly.

"Maybe she just doesn't like how childish he is?" Blake theorized. Yang deadpanned when she hooked an arm around Ruby, gesturing that Weiss' partner is also childish at times.

"Let me rephrase that. She doesn't like how childish he is even though he lived two lives, which technically makes him older than us." Blake corrected herself in a hush tone to keep others from listening. Given the combined ages of both lives, he would undoubtedly be older than them.

"He may be very childish, but there have been times when Luffy has shown maturity... to some extent."

"You're not helping his case Rubes." Yang sweatdropped. They were interrupted from further discussion when Weiss and Luffy made their way onto the arena in the center of the class. Luffy was doing stretches while Weiss steeled herself with Myrtenaster in hand.

The boy decided to go only hand to hand for this fight, so he brought no additional weapons.

"Now then, are you ready to confront your foes?" Port asked them. Weiss remained silent but nodded her head.

"You know it Mustache Guy! Bring it on!" Luffy said with a confident grin. Port simply chuckled at the nickname, shrugging it off as if it was no form of disrespect.

"Well someone seems eager and fearless. Lets see how far that confidence will carry you." the professor said with an amused tone before using the battle axe attachment to break the lock, letting out three boar-like Grimm with upper body armor called Boarbatusks.

Weiss used her glyph to lunge at one of them with great speed. The attack landed, but the weapon was stuck in the thick armor. The boar launched her off by throwing its head to the side, sending her barreling across the ground. Weiss groans in slight pain as she tries to pick herself off the ground.

Another Grimm tucks in itself and starts rolling towards the downed heiress.

It veered off course by a kick from Luffy, causing it to miss her. He then picked her up and hopped over a second rolling Boarbatusk, much to Weiss' complaints.

After setting her down, Luffy charged at the last opponent available at the moment. When they met, Luffy stopped the charge by grabbing the large curved tusks and tossed it high in the air. He imbues Armament into his legs before leaping up to the airborne enemy.

" **Gomu Gomu no Mace** "

He flips forward before delivering a double axe kick to the exposed underbelly, sending it crashing to the ground.

"Hey Wise! Try hitting it in the belly, it's really soft and weak." Luffy informed her.

"I never asked for your help!" Weiss shouted back.

"You don't have to ask. I was going to tell you anyway." Luffy countered with a neutral expression, leaving a fuming heiress up against one of the recovered opponents.

Face met palms as Ruby groaned at how this was turning out. Blake, Yang, and Jaune had small frowns when she shouted at him.

He was only trying to help.

The Boarbatusk charged at her once more. Instead of attacking head on, Weiss puts up a defensive glyph that repelled the boar and knocked it on its side. Using the opportunity, she lunged at the vulnerable enemy and pierced the soft belly, killing it instantly.

"Watch out Wise!" Luffy yelled at her as the last Boarbatusk rolled at her. She failed to react to the attack and was rammed in the side. A shout of pain escaped her lips before landing in someone's arms. Weiss turns her head to see Luffy holding on her shoulders with a grin on his face.

"You okay Wise?" Luffy asked. The heiress wriggled herself out of his grasp and gave him a scowl.

"Of course I'm fine you idiot." Weiss retorted.

"Cool! Then we can hurry up and finish this." Luffy declared.

The Grimm continued its rolling and charged at the two. Luffy imbued Armament into his leg and kicked it like a soccer ball. Said soccer ball smashed into the wall hard enough to get stuck in it, showing its belly. The beast struggled to break out of the wall, but was firmly placed in that position.

Luffy pointed to the Grimm while looking to Weiss with a smile, gesturing that she could finish it off. A ghost of a smile is returned as she complies and summons a glyph that shot a barrage of icicles, making it a pincushion of ice.

"Bravo you two, Bravo! It seems you both have what it takes to become huntsmen. We're not going to have enough time for more so make sure you finish the assigned readings. Class dismissed." Port congratulated them on their victory as the bell rang, signaling the end of class which prompted everyone to stand up and leave the room. Weiss took this opportunity to rush out the room, leaving her team in the room with Luffy and the professor.

"What's wrong with her? Did she need to go to the bathroom?" Luffy wondered, oblivious to the atmosphere and her attitude. Everyone looked to him with a sweatdrop.

'He really needs to learn to read the atmosphere.' they thought in unison.

"I'm going to go talk to her. You guys head for the next class." Ruby told them before leaving the room.

"Well you heard her, the next class should be the sparring class with Professor Goodwitch." Yang informed the two. Luffy's eyes sparkled at the mention of sparring with other students.

He was itching for a fight with another person instead of mindless Grimm.

"See ya later Mustache Guy." Luffy waved to Port as the three left the classroom. The professor couldn't help but feel a bit of pride well up for his mustache.

He happens to like the piece of facial hair, and getting nicknamed for it makes him assume that it was a compliment.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	11. Former Pirate King vs Ice Queen

**I decided to go back through the first ten chapters and do some slight editing in select areas such as the paragraph lengths in 'Forest Rumble'. Thank you for all the feedback so far.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 11**

"Weiss! Wait up!" Ruby called out to her partner. She managed to catch up to the heiress so she can get to the bottom of the situation. Things were escalating way too fast, and something had to be done.

Weiss turns her attention to Ruby with a scowl on her face, but it softens up a little at the sight of her leader.

"What is it Ruby? If it's about what happened in Port's class, I don't want to talk about it." Weiss told her in a stern tone. Ruby wasn't having any of that.

"No Weiss, this is something we need to get over with right now. What affects you can affect the entire team as a whole. Now tell me, what's the problem with Luffy?" Ruby asked Weiss with a slight tone of authority. She's not exactly mad at her, she didn't do anything wrong yet.

Which is why she was hoping that Weiss would vent her frustrations to her. To be the verbal punching bag in order to understand her strife better.

"You want to know what the problem is!? It's the fact that I have trained and put so much effort into my studies to get here. Luffy hardly did anything and gets to attend Beacon at an early age. All I have witnessed so far is his deplorable study ethics with above average fighting prowess. Sure he listened to Port's lesson, but he never took a single note. How is he supposed to pass his classes like that." the heiress ranted to her partner.

It was an indirect insult to everything she did to get here in the first place. It was the same as skipping classes and still passing them.

Ruby laughed nervously at her when she mentioned taking notes.

"You didn't take any notes either, did you?" Weiss guessed with half-lidded eyes. Ruby gave a tiny nod while avoiding eye contact in embarrassment. The heiress only pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in frustration at the reply.

"Unbelievable." she muttered to herself.

"H-hey, it was really boring just listening to him ramble on and on. Blake and Yang weren't even paying attention either." Ruby said in defense. "But anyway... is that the only problem you have with Luffy?" she asked the heiress as if she was expecting more. Luckily, there was.

"It's not only that! He's not taking any of this seriously, like it was some joke or game to him. He's basically some whimsical child. Why did he bother coming here in the first place? If he is that confident in fighting Grimm, then he could do it without being a huntsman. Better yet, he could go back to playing around as a pirate." Weiss vented to Ruby.

The red head was about to reply but was too late when Weiss stormed off before she get in a word edgewise. Ruby looked downcast at the reason for the animosity.

"You don't understand Weiss." she muttered to herself, but someone else heard.

"Perhaps she doesn't want to understand, Ms. Rose." Ozpin piped in from behind her. He figured there would be a problem between the strict heiress and a carefree pirate. The scythe wielder raised a brow at his appearance.

"She may say that Mr. Branwen doesn't take it seriously, but perhaps it is her that can't take him seriously. She refuses to see anything other than the 'whimsical child' she sees him as." he elaborated.

"So what your saying is that she doesn't want to accept him because his actions so far betray the fact he was a powerful pirate." Ruby surmised. Ozpin nodded in confirmation.

"It's too steep of a change in opinion from an optimistic kid to a Pirate King. She's thinking through logic and not really believing in hearsay. But this is only the first day. Only time will tell if Ms. Schnee starts seeing him in different light." the headmaster concluded with a bit of reassurance. Ruby felt nervous of how it was possibly going to play out.

"Something tells me that it's gonna get solved through violence." she said in a scared tone. She was scared for Weiss because if the heiress decided to challenge Luffy, odds are she would be demolished in one on one combat.

"Ahh, nothing like a good beating to remind you of how small you are compared to the rest of the world. We shall have the infirmary on standby." Ozpin told her in amusement. He'll be pretty thankful for Luffy unknowingly giving the students a valuable lesson in humility like with the sisters.

Qrow did cover that in their discussion.

'Is he EXPECTING Weiss to get beaten up?' Ruby questioned rhetorically with a sweatdrop. Just including the infirmary in the statement made it a lot more worrying.

"All comments aside, Ms. Schnee may have been tutored in a controlled environment by instructors, but it doesn't beat how Luffy learns when faced with life or death. Wouldn't you agree?" Ozpin asked for her opinion.

"Yeah, he's already familiar with how deadly the outside world is. Meanwhile, we stayed all cooped up in the safety of our homes and remain ignorant of it." mused Ruby as she stares down the hall lost in thought. Ozpin could only smile at her awareness of the situation many have never thought about.

'Seems as though Luffy's influence has made her a bit wiser.' he thought. Seconds of silence later, the huntress in training realized how much time passed.

"Oh my gosh, I'm going to be late. Bye professor Ozpin." she said quickly before using her semblance to traverse the empty hallways to her next class. the headmaster continues to gaze the hall she rushed through before taking a sip of coffee, only to stare at his mug afterwards with a disgusted look.

"That was a long talk... my coffee got a little cold." he commented before making his way to some place where he can get a new cup of his favorite drink.

* * *

Ruby managed to enter a large room with an arena in the center and rows of seats all around the outer rim of the room for the audience to spectate the spars. After using her speed semblance for a while, there were still minutes left before class started.

The rest of her team along with team JNPR and Luffy were spotted a little ways from her. Blake took notice of her and walked up to her with a serious gaze. Ruby stiffened at the gaze she was receiving from the black haired girl.

"Please don't ever leave me with the Pun Train duo alone again." Blake begged to her leader as she grabbed her shoulders. It took a few seconds until the red head realized that with Ruby and Weiss away, Blake was left to fend for herself against Yang's puns and Luffy's encouraging laughs.

"I'm so sorry Blake! I didn't mean to leave you to face their wrath on your own." Ruby sincerely apologized. Blake sighs in relief as she accepts the apology. They took their seats with team RWBY and Luffy in one row and team JNPR in the row behind them.

Though the scowling Weiss chose the seat farthest from Luffy, she couldn't stand being next to him.

"Pst... so Rubes, how did the 'Weiss talk' go?" Yang whispered to her sister. She already knew the answer with Weiss' distance from Luffy, but she needed the details.

"Not too great." was all Ruby whispered back. They halted their quiet conversation when professor Goodwitch entered the arena and turned her attention to the students.

"I'm sure you are well aware of what you will be doing in this class, so I'll keep this brief. Aside from the threat of Grimm, we will possibly be up against criminals that are too much for the police to handle. You shall hone your skills in either single or group combat, whether they would be human or faunus. If you are feeling bold, you can challenge an entire team in a one on four fight. You will be graded for participation in these spars and they will be supervised under tournament rules. Any questions?" the stern professor summarized the details of the sparring class.

Luffy had an excited grin on his face, eager for a fight. Yang sees this and shares his excitement, then an idea pops into her head.

"Hey Luffy, why don't you try going up against Weiss? She looks like she needs to _chill_ out, and a good scrap might be what she needs." Yang persuaded her cousin next to her with the others groaning at the pun. She may not know the exact problem, but letting out some steam usually helps.

'Besides, she needs to get knocked off her high horse.' she thought with a devious smirk.

'Crap!' Ruby thought when she heard that with a shocked expression. She knew it was gonna be solved violently, but not this soon.

Weiss, for her part, quirked a brow at the blonde, wondering what she was up to.

"Okay, sure. It was going to be either Nora, Pyra, or Witch. But if Wise is itching for a fight, then I guess I can fight her instead." Luffy agreed to Yang's insistence.

He wanted to test his strength against Nora. Pyrrha and Goodwitch seemed like an interesting fight to him. He can put aside his wants in favor for helping a friend.

The others looked to him in astonishment at one of the possible opponents. Weiss scoffed at what she thought of as arrogance.

"Woah! You were thinking of fighting one of the professors." Nora said in wonder of his gutsy behavior. She didn't think it was allowed, but Luffy and rules don't get along.

Pyrrha smiled at the indirect compliment. If she was one of the people he wanted to spar against, he must think of her as a strong opponent. At least that's her take on it from what she can understand about Luffy.

"Seeing as there are no more questions, if anyone wishes to volunteer to come up and choose their opponent, now is the time. If not, I will pick a student at random." Goodwitch instructed. The very moment the sentence left her lips, Luffy raised his hand in the air.

"I wanna go against Wise!" Luffy declared. Glynda nodded to him in acknowledgement and gestured the two to the locker rooms. Before Luffy can get out of his seat, Yang grabbed his arm to get his attention.

"Now Luffy, make sure you actually use your Aura to defend yourself. It wouldn't be fair otherwise." Yang warned him. A lot of the times, Luffy would go into fights without putting up his Aura as a shield and use only Haki.

Tournament rules dictate that if your Aura gets below a certain level, that would end the match.

It tends to be an unfair and dangerous fight when Luffy ignores using the shield, which makes fighting him under such rules impossible unless he uses his semblance constantly.

Luffy pouted at her for assuming he would take the fun out of the fight.

"You don't have to tell me. It wouldn't be a good fight then." the straw hat boy told her. The blonde smiled at this.

"Just making sure you understand. Now go on, they're waiting for you." Yang replied. With that said, Luffy left the area to prepare for the fight. The people outside the family were left in confusion at the conversation.

"Are you saying that he fought the Berserker Kong without using Aura for defense?" Ren inquired, resulting in a nod from the sisters. They looked baffled at what would be a hazardous method of fighting before descending into silence as they wait for the two. Ruby gave a dull look to Yang for setting this up.

"Come on Rubes. I thought this might help." Yang said in defense. The dull look never left her sister.

"Oh it's going to help... but you do realize that you inadvertently sent Weiss to the infirmary?" Ruby questioned her sister. The blonde had a blank look for a few seconds until it dawned on her.

"Oh crap! She's gonna end up with broken bones!" Yang panicked at the revelation.

'So slow!' Ruby and Blake thought in unison as they facefaulted.

"He can't be that bad in a fight." Pyrrha thought.

"Oh no, we've sparred with him so many times that we lost count on the number of injuries that left us bedridden for a day or two. Trust me, when he fights, he shows almost no restraint to his opponents. Doesn't matter if you're his friend or not, or if you were just training. If you are not prepared, then be ready to be put on the stretcher." Yang told them, recalling a lot of the spars back at Patch. They paled at the description of his brutal fights.

"And it only gets worse with Armament. You'll see why when they fight." Ruby added, causing confusion amongst the others.

Luffy and Weiss stood across from each other, anticipating the start of the match. It felt odd that they were teamed up in the class before, only to be against each other in the next. Luffy draws out the Clima-Tact, which happens to be the only weapon on his person.

"I wanna make this fun, so I'll only use my Clima-Tact and Haki. I'll even stop myself from using my rubber body." Luffy handicapped himself for more entertainment. Weiss seemed very offended by the gesture.

"Are you saying I'm so weak that I'm not worth your time!" Weiss shouted at him in rage. To lower himself to give her a possible chance in winning was very demeaning and insulting to her skills.

"Wha-, I didn't say that! I just want our fight to not be so boring." Luffy corrected, but Weiss didn't listen.

"If you're quite finished, the battle is ready to start." Glynda told them. She wasn't going to involve herself with their problems. They were old enough to settle it themselves. The two students nodded without taking their eyes off each other.

" **Buso Koka** ( _Armament Hardening_ )... **Memory Bond: Navigator** "

Both arms and his weapon took on the familiar black tone. Weiss has her rapier pointed at him, poised to strike when the battle starts. This served as the all clear signal for the professor.

"Begin!"

Not a moment sooner, Weiss rushes at him with the help of her glyphs. She launched a thrust aiming at his head, but he tilted his head to the side to dodge it.

The heiress gritted her teeth and berated herself for forgetting about Observation Haki. Jumping back to avoid a swing from his baton, she presses the offense to try and land a hit despite of the Haki. It goes unsuccessful as each attack either gets dodged or blocked by his hardened weapon.

She was caught off guard when he grabbed the wrist of her sword arm with his free hand, keeping her close with no way to escape his strong grip.

" **Atama Buso** ( _Head Hardening_ )"

His forehead receives the black coating before he delivers a powerful headbutt. He quickly throws a jab to her abdomen, knocking the wind out of her. Luffy points the end of his Clima-Tact with the mint green dust active.

" **Gust Sword** "

A gust of pressurized air shoots out of the weapon and blows Weiss away from him. she was sent back to her starting point as she laid on the ground in pain while holding her stomach. She was on the verge of emptying her stomach contents just from the jab.

'Why does it hurt so much!? Aura was supposed to protect my body from physical injury. Yet I felt like I took the full force of it.' she thought as she struggles to stand up. Luffy looks at her struggle and rubs the back of his head sheepishly.

"Oops... I forgot something important about Armament Haki that you should know. Hehe, sorry." Luffy apologized for not remembering a certain factor.

Back at the stands, everyone looked on in confusion. The sisters decided to explain it the best they can.

"You remember when we talked about Armament being a countermeasure against devil fruit users?" Ruby asked them, to which they nodded.

"Yeah, Luffy said something about hitting the 'substantial body' earlier." Jaune recalled. It was then that Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha realized what happened.

"Our own shields are protecting our bodies. So when he hits us with Armament..." Blake started, knowing where this was going.

"We suffer the actual physical damage." Pyrrha finished, scaring Jaune a bit. Nora had a beaming smile on her face at what she could do with that. She wouldn't have much of a problem breaking legs.

"Now we still feel the pain from the hits, that much we know. But we find ourselves in _more_ pain from the real injury to our bodies. Although... it's not like he's completely piercing our Aura. It still protects us, just not as much as we hoped." Yang spoke out of experience. A close quarters combatant like her would guarantee that she took a lot more hits than Ruby, especially with a semblance like hers.

"I'm guessing that in order to stop the piercing, we would need to use Armament to counteract it." Ren theorized, earning a nod from Ruby and Yang.

"One things for sure, Weiss is either tougher than she looks or Luffy was actually holding back his strength, which I really doubt." Yang said, but muttered the last bit to herself.

In the arena, Weiss managed to pick herself back up and stare at Luffy with narrowed eyes. He had just given his own explanation to Weiss about the piercing effect. She was trying to think of a way to fight without having to confront the Armament, then realized something he couldn't do.

Switching to the red dust on her rapier, Weiss lets loose a stream of flames towards the straw hat boy. Luffy couldn't help but grin at her.

"Shishishi, you figured out that I can't Armament things like energy and you're keeping your distance so I have to use dust to fight." Luffy surmised.

He switches over to ice dust and creates a ball of cold air before throwing it at the flames. Weiss thought nothing of the small ball as it was about to meet the wave of fire until she realized a mistake on her part.

" **Fog Tempo** "

The water vapor increased in density from rapidly heating the cold air, creating a thick sheet of fog to obscure her vision.

The heiress tensed when she found herself in an area with low visibility and an opponent that can sense where she is. She can't see him, but he could 'see' her.

Her only saving grace was his footsteps that warned her of where he is before bringing up Myrtenaster to block the blackened baton. She shifted her rapier to slide away from him before retreating. She was not taking her chances in the fog against a person that can read her next attack.

The shroud dissipated revealing the two combatants. The screen that shows their Aura levels indicate that Luffy used a fifth of his on his semblance and dust use, while Weiss is close to the halfway mark after taking a couple heavy hits.

Luffy takes the initiative and charges at her, only to be halted by a hailstorm of ice shards. He weaves through them with no trouble until he couldn't move his feet. He looks to his feet in shock upon spotting a black glyph on the floor, keeping him in place. Therefore he had no choice but to get buffeted by the shards.

Even if he uses Armament to protect his body, it still takes a bit of Aura since it's layered over the Armament.

The glyph shifts to a light green before sending Luffy skyward with another volley of shards heading his way. Luffy gritted his teeth before activating both fire and wind dust.

" **Hot Wind** "

A blast of hot air erupted out of the end and melted the shards before reaching him.

With the area hot and dry from the technique, Luffy launches a Cool Ball as he landed. He was then pierced in the chest by the fencer, leaving Weiss in horror of what she did.

She thought he had the Aura and Armament to take the attack, she didn't mean to do this.

Just when she thought the worst, Luffy faded out of existence before her eyes. She was left in confusion of the events until she was struck in the small of her back by the boy's leg. The heiress barreled across the ground for a little bit before recovering

" **Mirage Tempo**... whew, that was a close one. Good thing I used a Cool Ball when I did." Luffy said before chuckling at the close call. Weiss and Glynda widened their eyes at what he did.

'He used cold air to change the density to make a mirage of himself. The extreme differences in temperature caused light refraction, allowing him to replace his body with an illusion. His navigator really knew how to use the weather.' Glynda mused in intrigue. Weiss had similar thoughts to the science behind it.

"I think it's about time I ended this." Luffy declared.

" **Dark Cloud Tempo** " he calls out as a small, condensed black cloud charged with electricity.

He then rushed at her and entered a small clash between their weapons. Luffy tried to land a kick, but she broke the clash and slid away with her glyphs. This only served to put her in the worst place possible, between the small cloud and Luffy.

" **Thunder Lance Tempo** "

'Lance?' Weiss thought in confusion until she widened her eyes in fear. She looks behind her to see the cloud shoot a lightning bolt towards Luffy, his Clima-Tact specifically. He's using his weapon as a lightning rod to guide the bolt.

It was too fast for her to evade, but she managed to raise her rapier and used the metal weapon to divert the bolt from hitting her body. It worked, but the charge ran through the entire weapon, causing a powerful jolt to course through her arms.

She howled in pain as her petite body went numb from the voltage before she released her weapon and collapsed unconscious. A buzzing sound was heard as the match ended with Luffy victorious.

On the stands, they looked in surprise at the last attack that he performed. Yang felt really guilty for putting her teammate in danger, while Ruby was ruffling her hair in frustration.

"LUFFY! YOU IDIOT!" Ruby cried out at how he went overboard, startling everyone nearby. She was expecting a cracked bone or two, not a bolt of lightning. The boy flinched at his cousin's outburst before he rushed to the heiress' side.

Using Chopper's bond, he checked for any signs of a pulse or heartbeat. Luckily, he heard her heart beating as well as her breathing. He then rolled down her sleeves to examine the burns on her arm. It wasn't too severe, but it still needed to be looked over.

"She's okay, but I need to take her to a medical office to patch her up. Is that alright Witch?" Luffy asked the professor in an edgy tone.

"You're excused. Just know not to do such a thing again in the future." Glynda warned him, to which he nodded his head vigorously. He was at least taking responsibility for his actions.

He picked her up in a bridal carry and ran out the door, leaving the others with a look of concern for their friend.

"So uhhh... that was a _shocking_ fight." Yang punned to lighten the mood, only to receive groans from the rest.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Did the reason seem valid to warrant hostility, or was it just petty? How is the theory on Armament vs. Aura?**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	12. Melt the Ice

**I want to make something clear. Luffy's body is born of Remnant standards. Even if he has the soul and will, his body doesn't have the same absurd strength and speed as his old body, even if both bodies were the same age. It's my opinion of how strong he would be when under the limitations of a weaker, younger body and having slightly less time to regain his physical ability because of semblance training.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 12**

The first thing Weiss saw as she woke up groggily was a white ceiling. Not only that, her arms felt so numb that she couldn't tell if she had any, suffers a headache that threatens to split her head open, and feels moderate pain in the stomach region. So she just laid there thinking about how she ended up in such circumstances.

'We had our first day of classes, I fought Grimm with Straw Hat, vented my problems to Ruby, had a spar against Straw Hat, and then...' she stopped remembering the events that transpired as she growled in anger for being beaten so easily.

She only got one good hit, and that was when she showered him with ice shards.

Weiss scans the room for any occupants other than herself.

The only person she spotted was the same person that sent her here in the first place. Luffy is currently sitting on the chair snoozing with his head rested on the back of the chair. Her eye twitched at the boy that royally stomped her as he continued to enjoy his slumber.

Suddenly, Luffy woke up with a yawn as he rubbed his eyes. He turns his attention to the heiress while he's half awake until he finally realized it.

"Hey, you're awake. Do you feel any better?" Luffy asked in concern of her injuries.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK!? In case you couldn't tell, I can't feel my arms at all! You're lucky that it hit Myrtenaster instead of my body, otherwise I would've been worse off!" Weiss shrieked in rage while waving her numb arms around. The heiress took notice of the bandages wrapped around the appendages.

"Hehehe... sorry about that. I guess I went a little overboard there, huh. It's not like I know how much lightning hurts because I'm immune to it." Luffy stated after a small apology.

'A little overboard... that's putting it lightly.' Weiss thought with a sweatdrop. If that was his definition of the term, then what was going beyond overkill like?

"Shouldn't you be in class? How long were you asleep?" Weiss gave an inquisitive stare to Luffy. She looks over at the time and noticed how many hours she went unconscious. All the classes have been over since an hour ago.

Well that's just great, she failed to attend the rest of her classes on the first day.

But then... where was Luffy the entire time?

"Umm... I brought you here and made a trip to my dorm to get some medicine. Then I came back and had to wait for you to wake up because you have to take one of them by mouth. All I could do at the time was stick those bandages in this stuff and wrap it on your arms to heal the burns faster." Luffy explained some of his activities as he showed her a bottle of what she assumed was a type of ointment.

"So what you mean to say is that you skipped out on classes? You do realize that a nurse could've handled the medicine, right?" she asked, resulting in a nod from the straw hat boy.

"Yeah, but I wanted to make sure you got patched up. I'm the one that put you here." Luffy said. Weiss could only sigh at his reason for staying in the infirmary.

"Since I'll be having a hard time picking up anything for the time being and you're not going to leave, what's this medicine you brought?" Weiss relented to Luffy due to the circumstances. She needed to catch up on the classwork she missed and still help her team unpack. And she needs her arms in working order to do that.

At this, Luffy revealed another medicine ball in his hand. This time it's in a bright yellow color with a lightning bolt symbol on it. And in the center has some sort of liquid substance. Weiss wouldn't admit it, but she was intrigued on the many variations of medicine he seems to carry.

"This will help give the feeling in your arms back and keep them from hurting too much from the burns. It also gets rid of pain in any other places." he explained to her before gesturing her to open her mouth, to which she complied. Luffy placed the ball in and she swallowed it.

The effects kicked in when she felt a tingle throughout her body and the pain subsided around her gut. Stings were felt on her arms as she started to recover from the numbness.

'That must have been the burns he mentioned.' she thought as she winced at the stinging sensation. As the recovery was going on, the white haired girl decided to get some things out of the way, or else this would happen again.

"Why bother being a huntsman?" she asked vaguely. Luffy tilts his head in confusion at her.

"I mean... if you liked being a pirate so much the last time, then why become someone who tends to go after criminals such as yourself?" she elaborated her question in slightly rising irritation.

"I wanted to try something new and beat my dad at being a huntsman. Not only that, there's no One Piece in this world, which means there is no title of Pirate King. It's not like I wanted to be a huntsman just to beat up bad guys and Grimm. I also want to get back the freedom I once had as the Pirate King and go on more adventures." Luffy told her, trying to explain the reason for the change in occupation.

Weiss looks at him with dull eyes when she has to burst his bubble.

"How can you be free if you're a huntsman. Huntsman follow the orders of their superiors, and they won't be so lenient with those that don't follow them. If you want freedom, then be an adventurer or something. What you are trying to achieve is impossible." Weiss berated him for his foolishness. Luffy looked to her with a blank expression, not really caring if she believes if it's possible.

"Well I say it is possible because I refuse to believe it's impossible." Luffy argued. Weiss looked slack jawed at his flawed logic.

Weiss regained her composure before arguing further.

"You're being ridiculous! That's not how it works." she pointed out the obvious.

"And you're being annoying!" Luffy countered with a lame insult.

Weiss groaned in exasperation of his stubbornness. He just doesn't know when to face the facts.

The two just sat there in silence with a tense atmosphere. Whatever Weiss would say, Luffy would just rebuke it and vice versa.

Outside the door to the room they occupy, the rest of the group are standing around waiting for Weiss to recover. Though they have to wait longer because of certain problems that came up. It was really hard not to eavesdrop on the conversation they were having considering that the door barely blocked any noise.

Infirmaries are going to need that to hear a patient suffering from an unknown problem or the sounds of suspicious activity.

"I know I may sound obvious, but they're like oil and water." Jaune pointed out.

"They may as well be with the way they think." Ruby agreed to her fellow team leader.

"How so?" Jaune asked in curiousity.

"Weiss thinks through logic, fact, and rationality. Then there's Luffy who sticks to being able to do the impossible through sheer determination and will. One refuses to bend his will to anyone or anything while the other is easily bent towards the most plausible truth. That sound about right?" Blake compared the two's thought process.

If there was a high risk of failure, Weiss would very likely back out and not take the chance because it's the most logical thing to do. Luffy, however, will challenge those odds in hopes of gaining a brighter future.

"That's pretty much the gist of it." Yang said.

" _You do know we can hear you just as much as you can hear us, right?_ " Weiss wondered, speaking through the door.

" _Yeah! I can sense you guys too._ " Luffy noted to them.

They looked at the door for a few seconds before Ruby decided to speak up.

"Well then... since you can hear us Weiss, that means you heard Blake's comparison of you two. Here is a fact that you are not going to like Weiss: Luffy has beaten you easily while handicapped. We have a long way to go before we're at Luffy's level. And while we may not have been in his old world, he has already been through the motions of fighting to the death against people that can kill us with no problem." she informed her partner.

" _Oh really? And just what kind of people has he fought?_ " Wiess asked incredulously. She already figured out that she doesn't stand a chance when up against Luffy, there was no need for the reminder.

"Why are you asking me? The person with the answer to that is sitting next to you." Ruby pointed out.

While Ruby was busy talking through the door, the others were left in disbelief of how the socially awkward girl is leading the conversation. Yang could only smile at how her sister is taking up the mantle of a leader.

Back in the room, Weiss turns her attention to Luffy as if repeating the question. The boy tilts his head, recalling which opponents nearly killed him in order to prove a point.

"There was Magellan who had poison all over his body so I couldn't touch him, Aokiji had a body made of ice and nearly froze me solid, Doflamingo used strings to cut buildings down and manipulate people, and then there were the four New World Emperors..." Luffy listed off all the foes that gave him a really rough time before continuing down the list of adversaries and their power.

The more Weiss and the others listened, the more they were frightened of the possible devastation these enemies could cause if they were here. Some of them sound like a disaster waiting to happen such as a magma man or a person that could cause tremors at will. Though with Luffy being a pirate, it's hard to tell if they were on the good or bad side. One thing in particular caught the heiress' attention.

"Then there were these jerks who want me dead because of something my dad or grandpa did to them. That's so stupid!" Luffy said in frustration. He had no involvement with their actions, yet he gets targeted for it.

For once, Weiss could sympathize with him on the matter. Being the heiress of the Dust company, she would become a target by either suitors or assassins, regardless if she herself did anything to gain their attention.

Things fell back to silence after Luffy ran out of foes to mention. Weiss took the time to readjust her opinion for the boy based on the what she heard. It doesn't matter how many stories he tells, they're all farfetched even if they were true. After a while, she concluded that they aren't so different.

She always had high expectations placed on her shoulders that she had to meet in order to succeed. Luffy had to win against many powerful opponents, otherwise he would die. And both of them have been targeted at one point because of someone else in the family.

But the one thing that divides them is the stakes at risk. Where she would be looked upon with disappointment for failing, Luffy's very life is threatened to be taken away from him, and that was his entire pirate life.

Weiss sighs to herself as she realizes that Luffy had taken a larger burden than she could ever imagine. Of course he would have to take it seriously because death battles are all too familiar with him. His expressions just betrays the fact that he is.

"You're still an idiot." she finally said. Luffy looks to her in question, wondering if she had anything else to say other than that.

"But... I suppose I should apologize for dismissing your dream, and for thinking that you don't take this school seriously." she apologized for her accusation.

"Oi, I'm always serious." Luffy pouted at her. Weiss sweatdropped at his contradicting demeanor.

"That doesn't mean you can skip on your studies and homework!" Weiss scolded on his past behavior. Luffy groaned at the thought of studying.

"But it's so boring~." Luffy whined.

"Oh yes, it is very boring. But it's also required to pass your classes. Can't be an official huntsman if you don't graduate due to low grades, right?" Weiss told him, giving him some incentive.

She still thinks it's impossible to be a free huntsman, but she is not going to stop him from being one. If Luffy already opposed the law, what's stopping him from doing it again? Weiss chose to be neutral of his dream, not really supporting nor discouraging him.

"You gotta get stronger too. Doesn't help if you're smart and die on the first mission because you're weak. Although, you're tougher than I thought." Luffy argued a point.

Weiss puffed her chest at the compliment. Of course she would be tough, she took a giant sword wielded by a giant knight. If she could take that, she could take a few heavy blows.

"I don't need you to tell me that. Besides, our fight may have given me some new ideas. I guess you do know your way with Dust, huh Luffy." Weiss complimented. After seeing the varying effects of Dust he displayed, she might be able to think of some strategies with her team or use those techniques herself.

"Huh... I may have used the Dust, but the ideas came from my navigator, Nami. Oh, and you should be able to feel your arms right now Weiss." Luffy said. He doesn't want to take all the credit because some of the ideas and techniques originally belonged to his crew.

The heiress tested that notion by moving her arms and clenching her hands. Surely enough, she can feel the arms' movements as well as the bandages over her skin. They decided that it would be a good time to leave the infirmary, so Weiss climbed out of the bed and headed for the door with Luffy following. She wanted to keep the bandages on for the time being in case the burns haven't healed completely.

That and she didn't want to see what condition her limbs were in before.

What she saw outside the door was a mixture of soft smiles and some sly smirks.

"Okay... what is with those looks?" Weiss asked in an irritable tone. The smiles she could understand as hearing her concede to Luffy.

"Oh nothing... just happy that you gave each other promotions." Pyrrha told her, still leaving Weiss in confusion.

"That's the first time you two called each other by your actual names, instead of Straw Hat or Wise." Yang pointed out. Weiss put on a look of thought momentarily until she realized that they did near the end.

"It's not that big of a deal. He just has a bit of my respect, that's all." Weiss played it off.

"I'm just getting used to hearing her name from you guys." Luffy added in his reason.

*growl*

Everyone looks towards the source of the noise to find out it's from Luffy. The boy falls to his knees and rubs his stomach.

"Oh man, I'm so hungry. Can we eat first?" he asked in a pleading tone. Ruby puts her hands together in delight of how the situation turned out for them.

"Sure thing Luffy. But first we need to take care of one little thing. Right Yang?" Ruby asked her sister in an all too sweet voice. Yang stiffened when she got the hidden message and shrank a little as they stared at her.

"S-sorry about convincing Luffy to fight you. Hehehe, I didn't think he would zap you." Yang apologized to Weiss for indirectly causing her injuries as she laughs nervously. She knew that the heiress was going to get pummeled, she just didn't expect the Thunder Lance.

"Oh it's quite alright you brute. If I didn't nearly die in the spar, I wouldn't have made up with the idiot. In fact, I should be very grateful that you did that for the team." Weiss said sarcastically with the corner of her lips twitching. Yang sweated bullets at the possible grudge she will hold over her.

'Great! She's so gonna get me back for this somehow.' the blonde thought.

"Since we already ate lunch, it shouldn't take too long for Luffy to eat. We can finish unpacking AND our schoolwork." Ruby cheered. They wasted too much time as it is, and she wanted to get all the boring stuff out of the way.

"Banzai!" Yang, Nora, and Luffy cheered along with her in agreement. The others sweatdropped at the group of study haters.

* * *

After Luffy had a quick lunch, they returned to their dorms to unpack their belongings. Or at least team RWBY and Luffy because JNPR already got everything organized since they didn't have an unconscious teammate to wait for.

In the middle of unpacking their stuff, Blake was scrounging around her belongings as if she was missing something.

"Where is that thing?" Blake growled out in frustration as she continues her search.

"Looking for something, Blakey?" Yang asked, prompting the black haired girl to turn to her. Blake froze as she spotted what Yang was holding with a devious smirk on her face.

In her hand was a book labeled 'Ninjas of Love' with a rating for ages 18 and up. Blake blushed in embarrassment for her choice of literature being discovered before snatching away the book.

"Hey, as long as Ruby doesn't get a hold of it, everything's square. Besides, it's nice to know that my partner is also a pervert." Yang said with a cheeky grin.

"I-I'm not a pervert! And why only Ruby? Shouldn't you also be worried about Luffy?" Blake questioned, trying to fend off the accusation. Yang's grin turned into a megawatt smile at this.

"Ruby won't get it unless it was at least written blatantly. Luffy won't get it unless it's through action and nothing else. He's incredibly dense when it comes to romantic love." Yang informed Blake. Blake looked incredulously at her when she talked about Luffy's experience with love.

'He has an overall age of over thirty... and he _still_ doesn't get it! He has to know something at least.' Blake thought in disbelief. There was no way someone was still dense after living that long.

"Why would _you_ care if Luffy did find that book? It's not like he'll think any less of you." Yang assured, breaking Blake from her thoughts.

"I'm not falling for that one. And before you make a quip, I'm not falling for him either." Blake responded, figuring the trick Yang was going to use. She was aiming for her to admit that Luffy's opinion of her did matter.

The conversation dropped as Yang left it at that. Though that doesn't mean she's giving up on the possibility. She'll have a shit eating grin ready and say 'I told you so' when Blake admits she is interested. Yang is in fact worried for the boy's absent love life.

Though that doesn't mean she'll let just any woman get near him. They have to be approved by Yang's mother-like instincts.

On the other side of the room, Ruby and Weiss were on the bottom bunk working on homework together as they ignored the sounds of the other two team members talking. They already finished putting up their stuff since they don't have as many decorations or books.

"They're probably about done with Luffy's room. I'll go drag him in here." Ruby said before getting up to go to her cousin. Weiss raised her hand in confirmation without taking her eyes off her book as she was busy jotting down answers.

In Luffy's room, team JNPR were helping him out with unloading the many objects in his giant backpack. Like Yang said earlier, it was mostly equipment for making more ammo or medicine. He does have some decorations such as two flags with his jolly roger. The only difference between the two was how the emblem looked.

"Hahaha! That looks like it was drawn by a five year old!" Nora laughed out as she pointed at the flag with a poorly drawn emblem. It looked so sloppy that it may as well be made by a kid.

"Don't be rude Nora. I'm sure he put a lot of work into it. You can see the progress with his second flag." Pyrrha said as she stares at the perfectly drawn jolly roger.

"That one was made with my sniper bond." Luffy noted towards the better of the two.

"O-oh, I guess it does take a sniper's precision to be a good artist." Pyrrha said with a sweatdrop.

Jaune took out a series of jars with pellets inside. They were separated by color, ranging from red, yellow, brown, green, blue, ice blue, and... black? He opens the jar with the black pellets and inspected it in wonder.

"I'm gonna guess these don't actually use black dust?" Jaune evaluated.

"Shishishi, good guess. That's a metal ball with fire dust inside. When I put Aura into it, it blows up when it hits something." Luffy explained to the curious boy. It was a suitable replacement to the usual gunpowder stars that Usopp shoots.

Jaune looked wide eyed at the small pellet before he put it back in the jar, a little scared of the damage it could do. If an ice pellet can create an enormous block of ice, what can a tiny bomb do?

Ren found a mortar and pestle along with a small box with compartments. Each compartment holds some sort of plant or herb in moderate quantities.

'He goes for an old fashioned method of making the medicine. Did he find some of this, or did he buy it from someone?' Ren wondered in thought. He doesn't know of anyone that sticks to using a mortar and pestle, at least not in this day and age.

The team were left in shock as Luffy pulls out a small fridge and places it against the wall.

"Yosh, now I have a place to keep my meat." Luffy said.

Many thoughts plagued their minds. Mostly about how he fit the appliance in the backpack, how they didn't notice it, or why he would need to have one in his room.

"You sure have an obsession with meat. Kinda like me and pancakes. Oh Ren, can we have some pancakes for dinner?" Nora asked in glee of having her favorite food. Ren could only sigh at her request.

A little while longer, and they completed their task. Given how much space is left, Luffy could fit some more stuff inside. At the moment he is satisfied with everything except one thing.

He wants a stove to cook the meat on.

Overall, his room looks more like an apartment than a dorm.

Ruby opens the door with a smile on her face. Luffy somehow got the message and tried to distance himself in fear of the inevitable.

"Luffy~. It's time to start your assignments." Ruby said in a sing song voice. The rest of her team were behind her with a look of mischief. Yang enters and grabs Luffy by the ankles before dragging him out of his room.

"Nora! Save me!" Luffy pleaded to his insane comrade as he claws at the floor, only to see her restrained by Pyrrha and Jaune.

"I'm in trouble too Luffy! You have to survive the horrors of school on your own. I believe in you!" Nora cried out as she got dragged towards her dorm.

"You're both a bunch of drama queens. It is not that bad!" Weiss assured in a harsh tone.

"It's for your own good Luffy." Blake said in slight amusement.

The insane duo were separated as they tried to endure the torment of homework.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	13. Haki Training

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 13**

The first weekend has arrived for the group of nine as they walked the halls in the middle of the day. They are heading towards one of the training arenas in the school building so they can start up on learning Haki.

Teams RWBY and JNPR are currently debating on which type they should focus on first. Yang already decided on Armament, and the same goes with Ruby and Observation.

Their mentor is seen ahead of them carrying a normal sized backpack.

"So what's inside that thing anyway, Luffy?" Nora asked in curiousity as she gestures to the item.

"Just some pain medicine and stuff. There is also some things needed for the training." the boy answered.

The group shivered at the mention of bringing medicine. That's cluing them in that the training is going to possibly be pretty harsh.

They opened the doors to the arena to find out that it's deserted. A lot of the students are trying to gain their bearings and find a routine for the coming weeks. Luffy set his backpack at the edge of the ring as the others move to the center.

"So... how are we going to unlock Haki in the first place? Is there some special training method?" Jaune inquired.

Luffy tilts his head in thought of how to explain it. It's really hard for him to put it in words.

"From what Rayleigh told me, you can awaken it with intense training or incredible shock. Although there are a lot of ways to try to awaken it." Luffy said, recalling the info his teacher gave out.

"Shock? As in 'your life flashed before your eyes' kind of shock?" Jaune asked further, this time with a tone of rising fear. It's rather discouraging to hear that one of the only ways to awaken it is to have a brush with death.

"Uhh... something like that. He also taught me that the key to becoming strong is to have no doubt." Luffy added. The group adopted a look of thought as they let the words sink in.

"I don't know how those two go together, but thanks for the advice." Pyrrha said. They proceed to wait for him until he pulls out a bat with a strip of dark colored cloth. The people on their first day are left in confusion at the two objects.

"So who wants to go first for Observation Haki?" Luffy asked for a volunteer with a grin. Ruby instantly raised her hand to volunteer so the others can see what they were supposed to do.

The scythe wielder walks over to him and takes the strip of cloth. She wraps it around her eyes, blindfolding herself, before sitting down with Luffy behind her. Ruby makes her best attempt at putting herself in deep focus to her surroundings. Silence filled the air as she anticipates the first move.

"It's like trying to hit a piñata." Nora commented.

"Except that the 'piñata' is blindfolded and the one holding the bat isn't." Ren added some slight comparisons to his friend's comment. He already figured out how this was going to play out. Everyone looked to him with wide eyes at what he implied.

"You ready, Ruby?" was all Luffy asked, earning a nod from his cousin. He prepares a swing from behind, aiming for her head. When he finally swung, Ruby felt her instincts kick in and leaned her head to the side to dodge the bat.

She didn't foresee the attack, but she could make a guess of where it was coming from and where it was going to land from the sound of rushing wind created by the swing.

As Luffy kept pressing the attack, the spectators were mildly impressed that Ruby was able to evade a good number, despite the lack of vision. Though they could tell it wasn't Haki from the look of strain on her face as she tries to keep up the pace. She was only able to barely dodge at the very last second, and she's putting a lot of effort into it.

Ruby slipped up and took a blow to the side of the head, sending her to the ground with a thud. Fortunately, she had her Aura up and the bat wasn't covered in Armament.

"Owww... that kinda hurt a little." Ruby said as she rubbed the bump on her head. She takes off the blindfold and hands it to Luffy for the next participant.

"Who's next?" he asked. He would try to make sure that everyone went at least once before someone else can be picked again, to ensure that their Aura doesn't run dry.

"I guess I'll go up." Blake responded as she walked up and took the same position as Ruby with the blindfold on.

Luffy starts the exercise and begins to notice after a while that Blake is having an easy time with dodging the weapon.

Little does everyone know that Blake is a cat faunus in hiding, using the black bow to cover her cat ears. It's thanks to her faunus heritage that she has enhanced senses, therefore allowing her to easily hear the same rushing wind that Ruby heard.

Luffy starts to pout at her for dodging so easily without Observation Haki. The exercise was meant to help awaken that type of Haki. If it's not difficult, then he would have to make it so.

"That's enough Blake. It's not hard enough for you, so I have to do something different." Luffy said.

"Umm... okay. Do I still need the blindfold?" Blake asked in slight nervousness. She has this nagging feeling that he was a little sour at the outcome.

"No. I don't think it would matter if you could see or not with what I'm thinking of. Just stand at the edge." Luffy answered, keeping Blake in the dark.

The hidden cat faunus complies and moves to the edge of the arena. The audience were curious of what his plan of action is. Pyrrha knows just who to ask about that.

"So Nora... since you and Luffy are like-minded, what would you do in this situation if you were in his shoes." Pyrrha asked her teammate. If anyone could possibly understand Luffy's mindset, it was her. Nora crossed her arms and tilted her head in thought of a likely scenario.

"Well if someone makes dodging look so easy, then I would hit them faster than they could blink." Nora replied with a crazy grin. The rest of team RWBY glanced at each other while sweating bullets, thinking one common thing.

'Blake's doomed.' they thought in unison. The sisters also noticed something out of the ordinary.

"You know, you haven't said a word since we got here Weiss. What gives?" Yang asked. The heiress has been silent longer than usual. Normally, she would be scolding someone at this point.

"I don't have to talk if I don't want to. Besides, I still find it bizarre that we are being taught something by an idiot." Weiss commented. Ruby and Yang facefaulted at her reason for the silence.

Back in the arena, Luffy was cracking his knuckles and neck as he was preparing for what would be a higher difficulty. Blake narrowed her eyes in focus for his next attack, though she was feeling very uneasy about his next action.

Was he going to punch her?

"Alright... you look ready, so lets see if you can dodge this!" Luffy said as he swung his arm to pump it, entering Second Gear.

'Well shit.' was all she could think before a blur of a fist landed on her face, sending her crashing into the wall. He didn't even bother to call out the technique like he normally does. Everyone winced as she left an indent of herself in the wall.

Having enhanced senses may help with evasion, but it's kind of useless when dealing with attacks moving at mach speed. It's different when you don't have the reaction time.

"Ugh. If I knew you were gonna do that, I probably would've taken the bat." Blake muttered to herself as she groaned in pain.

"Huh, guess you didn't have Observation Haki after all." Luffy thought out loud. Only trained veterans and Haki users would've been able to dodge such an attack.

The group ran to the black haired girl and pulled her out of the indent. She was still a little dazed from the impact.

"So how was that 'fist of love' Blakey?" Yang teased.

"Shut up." Blake growled in annoyance.

Throughout the entire week, the blonde would not let up with the teasing and matchmaking. When will she get that there is nothing between them besides being friends?

"Yay! Now all of team RWBY suffered the 'fist of love'. It's only a matter of time until he spreads the love to the rest of the school." Ruby cheered.

This made the others sweatdrop at the notion. They could only imagine Luffy giving a heavy punch to the entire student population.

"You should be alright after you rest up Blake. Who's turn is it now?" Luffy asked for a volunteer.

For the next two hours, all of the Observation participants took turns with the exercise. Pyrrha has shown exceptional skill in evasion until he decided to use Second Gear just like with Blake. Ren and Weiss were having trouble at the start but were able to get the hang of it. Jaune was so focused on awakening Haki that he either didn't bother to dodge or just failed to.

Yang and Nora were the only ones that want to focus on only Armament at the moment. While it would be useful to sense attacks, they need to focus on being the heavy hitters of both teams. Besides, Yang's semblance requires her to take hits so Observation Haki is a bit moot point.

One thing's for sure, they're getting better at taking blows and sharpening their instincts.

After the last turn was taken, they decided to move on to the Armament exercise. Luckily for them, it didn't need the blindfold.

"Alright, I guess I'll give a demonstration of what they should be doing." Yang volunteered. The two of them stood across from each other in their fighting stance, with Yang equipped with her Ember Celica.

The blonde rushed at him with a swift punch, only for Luffy to block it with a punch of his own. Yang continued to press the attack with Luffy defending himself by either a block, dodge, or counterattack. The spectators begin to notice that Luffy was not trying to go on the offense, only sticking with defense.

"I get it. Since Armament is focused around fighting spirit, he's letting us attack him so it would allow us to put more spirit into our attacks because we're struggling to land a blow." Weiss figured out.

"What if it's the same with Observation?" Jaune wondered, causing everyone to look at him with raised brows.

"I-I mean... if Observation is about presence, then shouldn't we try to dodge by actually sensing the attack rather than instinct?" Jaune suggested. Everyone contemplated on the suggestion, thinking he might actually have a point.

Were they going about it all wrong?

"Hey look, Luffy started attacking her now." Nora called out, earning the other's attention. True enough, the boy was throwing his own punches at his cousin. Yang is doing well to defend herself, but it would seem to be pressuring her to fight even more harder.

" **Gomu Gomu no Gatling** "

He threw numerous punches in her direction. Yang was hard pressed to keep her guard up, but some of the stray punches managed to break through. Using the damage sustained, Yang activates her semblance which caused her hair to glow and her eyes morphed to red.

She gets in close and starts sending a flurry of punches and jabs, putting Luffy on the defensive. Luffy crosses his blackened arms and blocks a heavy punch, only to still get sent skidding back. As he comes to a stop, he leaps forward to intercept her advance using his head.

Yang puts all her strength into her next punch and collides with his skull. After the brief power struggle, they blew each other back in a stalemate before Yang shoots some shells out of her gauntlets.

The others stared in disbelief of how strong Luffy's head seems to be.

Luffy smoothly dodges the bullets by slightly moving his body, the ammo missing by mere inches. Yang growled in annoyance before loading more shells and rushing at him for another fist fight.

After a long time of constant fighting, Yang finally got tired out. Luffy doesn't even look exhausted from the workout.

Although it could also be due to the fact that she ended up taking a few hits on occasion.

"Where... do you... get that... stamina?" Yang asked between pants as she was catching her breath with her hands on her knees.

Luffy was in a new body, but yet he has shown to have more endurance than her anyway.

"You're forgetting who always spars against uncle Qrow every chance he gets." Ruby deadpanned with a dull look.

"Shishishi, I also go to the woods in Patch and hunt down a lot of Grimm too. Sometimes I go with my dad to look for some huge Grimm." Luffy claimed with a grin.

"Speaking of which, can I come with you the next time you have an outing?" Ruby requested with excitement. It's been awhile since they both went to someplace just to hunt Grimm.

"Sure." Luffy replied with a smile.

"You make it sound like it's some sort of sport." Jaune commented with a sweatdrop.

"Do you even feel hurt after using your head so much?" Pyrrha asked in slight concern. Yang catches her breath before giving the details on the topic.

"You don't have to worry about that one bit. He can pretty much dent shields and break swords with just his head." Yang assured. She honestly doesn't know how exactly hard it is. But long story short, his head may as well be it's own weapon.

They think about that fact for a bit before recalling a certain event. This causes them to turn to Weiss with questioning brows.

"W-What's with the looks?" Weiss wondered as they kept staring.

"Now that I think about it... how in the hell did your skull remain intact?" Yang asked in piqued interest. Weiss took a headbutt covered in Armament, yet she walks it off as if she didn't get her head caved in by a cudgel.

"You make it sound like I get defeated in one hit. I've had my fair share of pain, you know." Weiss explained with irritation. Her fighting style may spell out 'I can't take a single hit', but she's a little tougher than what others think.

"It's not a matter of pain. It's about the actual injury. You should've ended up with a concussion." Yang argued.

"I'd rather not dwell on it. What's important is that I _didn't_ get a concussion." Weiss said.

The day continued on as everyone took turns sparring against Luffy in order to awaken Armament. While his punches and kicks are still being thrown at full strength, they know he wasn't fighting at full capacity. Luffy was only fighting with hand to hand combat coupled with Haki and his rubber body.

Ruby and Weiss weren't in it for Armament, but they could use some normal training to stay in top form.

Everyone finally had several turns in the exercise and could honestly say that it is harder than it seems. Luffy was breathing heavily after fighting eight different people in quick succession several times. Ren and Jaune are laid out on the ground, completely exhausted from the ordeal. The two don't really have that much stamina to last a long fight.

"I think we should call it a day. Those two look like they're about to pass out. Maybe we can take the time and ask Luffy about his old life." Pyrrha suggested, with both boys holding a thumbs up in agreement. While they did have their own questions, they wanted to catch a breather more than anything.

She then pulled out a sketch book with a few pencils. Everyone quirked a brow at seeing the items.

I figured since Luffy can use his sniper bond to draw better pictures, he could use these to give illustrations of certain things. It could be another person or an object only found in his world." Pyrrha explained to them. A few seconds of silence passed as the family trio looked at her with a blank expression.

"I never thought of that." they said in unison as palm met fist in realization. The others sweatdropped at their slowness.

"Lets start with a rough drawing of the world map. What exactly did it look like?" Ren wondered. Luffy tilted his head at the request.

"If it's a map you want me to draw, then Nami could help with that. She did dream of making a map of the world." Luffy reasoned. Usopp wasn't the only one that could draw. While Usopp leaned more on the artistic side, Nami was their cartographer with a great memory.

Nevertheless, Luffy started working on the map using Nami's bond. They waited patiently as he continued his work with his tongue sticking out the corner of his lips. After he finished, the group scanned the drawing as they spotted vast differences.

It had a large strip of land going vertically down the middle of the map. Then there were three thin bars going across the middle horizontally. The ocean looked like it was separated into four quadrants, each labeled with North, East, South, and West Blue. The noticeable land in the middle was labeled the Red Line. The Grand Line was found in the middle of the three bars.

"So that's your old world? It doesn't look like there is much land." Jaune said as he observed the map.

"Well duh, he didn't put any islands in there. So where were you born?" Nora asked. Luffy pointed to the northeast quadrant, gesturing that he was born in East Blue.

"Yeah, I started my adventure in my home town, Foosha Village. Then my friends and I sailed to this place called Reverse Mountain. From there, we entered the Grand Line and continued our journey until we got to an island called Raftel where One Piece is." Luffy gave a brief summary of his journey through directions.

"Couldn't you just go straight to the Grand Line from your home?" Blake inquired. According to the map, there were no natural barriers keeping them away.

"You could... but there's no wind or currents between the two. Besides, that's also where these huge sea monsters called Sea Kings live. But I don't want to take a shortcut." Luffy answered, using the knowledge of some of the bonds on occasion to help.

"Moving on... who is this Rayleigh person you mentioned earlier?" Weiss asked.

"He's the one that taught me Haki. He's also the first mate of the Pirate King before me." Luffy explained, causing everyone to go wide eyed at the info.

"Wow! He must be really strong then!" Nora exclaimed in awe.

"He really is strong. I heard a story about him swimming through the Calm Belt and killing a Sea King. Umm... the Calm Belt is that sea with no wind just so you know." Luffy said, noting the Calm Belt before they asked.

"I really doubt a person could pull that off." Weiss said with an incredulous look. She's not gullible enough to believe that a mere human could take out a sea monster while swimming. In the world of Remnant, if you're fighting in water, you're as good as dead.

"Considering how strong a lot of the people in his world are, I'd say otherwise." Ruby argued. Her partner only sighs in response, almost forgetting the differences in physical strength.

Yang has remained in deep thought of a possible, yet scary, scenario. She was broken out of her thoughts by Luffy.

"What's wrong Yang?" he asked in concern.

"It's... something about what professor Ozpin said earlier. If there are other incarnates besides you, do you think that some people from the past life would come here just to kill you?" Yang confessed her worries. Some of his old foes could be brought here with their devil fruit abilities along with the possibility of having an Aura and Semblance.

Luffy tilted his head in thought, never really thinking about the 'what if's.

"That's completely ridiculous! If we're talking about people that want to bring him to justice, they should know that the life before the one they live now means nothing here." Blake ranted, catching everyone off guard.

She was always the silent one in the group next to Ren, so it surprised them when she actually blurted out her thoughts rather than keep them to herself. Yang gave a sly smirk at seeing her partner's defensive reaction.

Blake seems to comprehend what she just did and shut herself up after feeling everyone's wide eyed gaze. She's a bit embarrassed of how she acted.

"But what if we're talking about someone not from the marines. It could be another pirate that holds a grudge against him." Ruby reasoned. One way or another, Luffy made just as many allies as he did enemies.

They turn back to the boy to see his head tilted down and his arms crossed, his eyes covered by the rim of his straw hat.

"Uhh... Luffy?" Jaune said as he tried to get his attention.

They all leaned closer, only to hear the faint sounds of... snoring? Luffy fell asleep in the middle of his thoughts, in the middle of what seemed like an important discussion.

'Is he a narcoleptic!' were the thoughts of some of the individuals. Yang walked over to him and popped him on the top of his head, leaving a lump.

"Woah! Did I fall asleep?" Luffy asked to no one in particular as he chuckled a bit.

"Luffy, this is something serious." Yang said in exasperation of his carefree behavior.

"Well if they wanna fight me, then I'll just get stronger and beat their ass." Luffy answered simply.

"You make it sound so easy. But I guess that means we also have to pick up the pace in our training. Lets call it a day for now and eat. We can pick up where we left off again tomorrow." Ruby said as she declared that training is over. The others nodded in agreement before heading to the student kitchen.

"This'll be the first time we get to see Luffy cook. What should we expect?" Pyrrha asked in anticipation. Cafeteria food could lose a bit of flavor after eating it so many times in a row.

"I was thinking of making sandwiches with the salmon I caught." Luffy told her. Blake's hidden cat ears shot up at the mention of having fish for dinner.

"When and where in the world did you go fishing? And you actually brought back food instead of eating it on the spot." Weiss said in disbelief. Taking note of his gluttonous behavior, the thought of Luffy bringing food on his own was like a dream.

"Who said he was alone? I had to follow him around and make sure to protect the fish." Yang informed her. She notices the drool leaking out of the corner of Blake's mouth and decides to take advantage of it.

"You hungry for meat or what?" Yang asked her partner, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I'm hungry for fish if that's what you mean." Blake replied with a sharp look. She just really likes fish, whether it's tuna or otherwise.

"You know, I just thought of something. If he has a stretchy body, then does that mean that-" Nora started off before being cut off.

"YES! _That_ is also able to stretch too! I had enough of that one question to last a lifetime. Now can we please NOT talk about that." Ruby answered the question before it was said with a red face.

It took the others a few seconds to get what they assumed was about to be asked, then their faces went as red as Ruby's. Though Luffy didn't understand what they were talking about.

"Seriously! Can you not ask something so lewd? I know we can ask anything, but there are some inquiries best left unanswered." Weiss scolded Nora. The hammer wielder chuckled sheepishly at that. It probably wasn't the best idea to make hormonal teens have that stuck in their thoughts.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Updates from now on aren't going to be so consistent, just to warn you. Sometimes it may take longer than one week due to distractions.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	14. One Big Mystery

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 14**

"So let me get this straight. You want me to help you with Aura manipulation?" Ren repeated the request asked of him by Luffy, who nodded in confirmation.

It was just those two in team JNPR's dorm. Jaune was dragged off to do some studying by Pyrrha. Nora was hanging out with team RWBY, trying to ask the sisters some questions about Luffy's old world as well as his life.

At least the ones that they can answer themselves.

Which leaves Ren to take advantage of the silence and meditate, until Luffy entered and disrupted the peace just to request help. Ren sighed at the short respite given to him before giving the boy his attention, seeing as he isn't leaving anytime soon.

"What made you think that I could help you at all?" Ren asked as he wondered what gave Luffy the idea to go to him.

"Nora would always go on about how good you are at controlling Aura, so I thought I could get help from someone who knows a lot about it." Luffy explained to him, causing Ren to sigh in defeat.

'Of course it would be Nora.' he thought to himself. The hyperactive girl tends to be a chatterbox, often saying things that are better left unsaid. He was looking forward to a day full of peaceful silence before Nora takes him on a rollercoaster of shenanigans once more.

"Well all I can tell you is that it improves through practice, but there's also meditation." Ren said. There really wasn't many ways to improve your control over Aura. Luffy looked confused at one of the methods.

"Meditation?" he asked for a better explanation.

"What I was doing before you came in."

"Oh, but it looked like you were just sitting there with your eyes closed. That looks really boring." Luffy said in disappointment.

"I know it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but sometimes you just need to clear your mind. Some say it helps find inner peace and balance, others say that it can change negative feelings into positive ones." Ren explained some of the benefits to meditation. Without that, he might have lost his mind when dealing with Nora's antics.

Luffy takes a minute to digest the info, trying to make sense of it.

"So it makes you less angry." the straw hat boy concluded. Ren could only sweatdrop at how much info he got from that.

"Cool! That would've helped Nami back then. She would always get mad at us for doing something stupid or using up all the money." Luffy said, recalling the trouble they get into with Nami.

"Moving on... why do you really need it in the first place? You're strong enough as it is." Ren inquired. Considering that Luffy can still have the energy to fight after going so many spars in a row without proper rest, it shouldn't be a big concern.

"I've told myself that so many times. But in the end, there were a lot of opponents that proved me wrong. I had to use Third Gear to take out that gorilla. Having a strong body is nice and all, but I need to get a handle on using Aura to get even more stronger with the help of my friends. There could be larger gorillas out there, or other Grimm we don't know about." Luffy reasoned through his past life experiences.

He had too many close calls as it is. There were times when he came so close to losing a fight or losing someone close to him because of it. One event comes to mind when the worst case scenario actually happened.

Ren's eyes widened a little at the small piece of wisdom that Luffy imparted. He makes a strong point after noting the possibility of more dangerous Grimm roaming the lands. But to hear that from someone as carefree as him is a bit more surprising.

The look of surprise morphed to one of worry when he noticed Luffy's expression turn grim. He sighs to himself as he felt guilty for the change, figuring that he made him remember something dreadful.

"I'm sorry if this reminded you of some bad memories." Ren apologized.

"Don't worry about it. I had a lot of time to get over it, but sometimes I can't help but remember it. That's why I need your help in the first place. My body may not be strong at the moment, but I should be fine if I'm better with Aura." Luffy said as he started to cheer up a bit.

"If you say so... would you mind showing your Aura? It might give me an idea of what you could do to refine your control." Ren instructed, to which Luffy complied. The boy closed his eyes in focus as he bears his Aura outward, so that it may be visible to others.

Ren was completely confused with Luffy's Aura. It radiates brightly throughout the room, but that's not the source of the confusion. It was the myriad colors his Aura came in.

Normally, each single individual has only a singular color of Aura, yet Luffy has multiple colors. Ren cups his chin in thought as he tries to figure out why that is. He adopts a look of realization when he has a theory on his Aura.

'They said that he has more than one spirit dwelling inside of him, yet they were alive at one point in time. Does this mean that they are separate sources of Aura all packed together in one body, effectively making them individual entities working together. That could explain his rainbow colored Aura and the amount that he possesses.' Ren thought to himself. The light receded as Luffy stopped what he was doing.

"Did you figure out anything Ren?" Luffy asked curiously.

"You're trying to improve Aura manipulation to make your semblance last longer, right?" Ren quickly asked, with Luffy nodding his head. "Then maybe you shouldn't try to pull so much Aura out. You're using more Aura than what is actually needed for your semblance." he advised the boy. Luffy looked very confused at the advice given to him.

"Huh!? But I was told to try and use a tiny bit of Aura, and that's still too much!? How much smaller do I have to use?" Luffy wondered in disbelief.

Ren was starting to get a clearer picture of the problem. With Luffy's reserves, a tiny amount of Aura could be a large portion of theirs'. It's a matter of perspective and knowing just how much Aura you have. Luffy must not have any idea on how much because he might be thinking of his own separate Aura, rather than the total amount due to the spirits' individuality.

Even with all that, Luffy's definition of 'a tiny bit' may be interpreted differently.

"How did you find out about your spirits?" Ren inquired, getting closer to an answer.

"Umm... I stop thinking and just search inside myself." Luffy explained in very vague detail. Ren could only give a dull look at what Luffy actually did.

It wasn't so different from normal meditation, yet he doesn't really know that.

"Have you ever tried to get a feel of how much Aura your spirits have?" Ren questioned further, receiving a 'no' from Luffy.

After getting a reply, Ren searches the dorm for a pitcher and a tall glass cup. He then makes a short trip to the restroom to fill the pitcher with tap water before placing them on the desk. Luffy quirks a brow in confusion, wondering what Ren was up to.

"Alright... I want you to fill the glass up to what you think is 'a tiny bit'." Ren instructed. Luffy shrugged his shoulders before doing as instructed. Ren lets out a hum after seeing the boy fill the glass about an tenth of the way. Luffy's perspective of the amount is normal, but he should still use a smaller amount. So that leaves the total Aura he has.

"So what's the point of all that anyway?" Luffy asked as he downed the small amount of liquid he recently poured. He figured Ren got the answer he needed so he just drank it.

"The problem you have is that you don't know how much Aura your crew has. They may be separate from yours, but they all act as one. I don't have any clue on how, but you need to learn how much Aura your crew members have. You should still lower the amount of Aura you're pulling out though." Ren surmised with slight uncertainty. It's hard to make a very solid answer when the person in front of you is the only one you've met that has the condition.

"So what you're saying... is that I have more Aura than I thought?" Luffy said as he tries to make sense of everything.

"That sounds about right. You must have been so focused on your semblance and Haki that you never bothered to know more about your Aura." Ren said.

"Shishishi... I guess so! Ooooh, I can't wait to actually use that technique! Do you wanna see?" Luffy exclaimed in glee. Ren quirked a brow at the technique he mentioned.

"If it involves destroying the room, don't let it loose here." Ren warned, deciding to humor him. But from the sounds of it, if Luffy needed fine point Aura manipulation to perform it, then the results must be something big.

Luffy nods at him before quickly opening the window and forming an oval gesture with his hands, pointing out the window so it would be safe. He activates the shipwright bond and starts gathering pure Aura in between his palms. Ren looks on with mild interest at his actions, until he noticed how strenuous it is to Luffy.

The small space in the middle of the oval begins to glow brighter and brighter. It then started to fade out of existence, leaving the boy panting in exhaustion.

"Are you alright Luffy?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't have enough control. And it really hurts my head after thinking so much." Luffy assured him while complaining about a headache.

"And that was supposed to be..." Ren tried to urge Luffy into finishing the statement.

"Franky's Radical Beam. Although he shoots an awesome beam of light, I figured I could do the same with Aura." Luffy said. Aside from its destructive capacity, he wants to be able to use it just for the fact that it's a laser beam.

A loud rumbling was heard in the room, and Ren knew exactly where it came from.

"Oh man I'm hungry. All that talking and thinking took a lot out of me." Luffy said to himself as he groaned in hunger.

"I guess I can make some pancakes. Just don't use up all the syrup, Nora would kill you." Ren warned as he takes out a small griddle. With how much syrup Nora consumes, he wouldn't be surprised if her blood stream was filled with syrup.

At first, Ren thought he was going to have an unpleasant time when Luffy entered. Now he can say that he was at least bearable. Despite the happy-go-lucky exterior along with his idiocy, Luffy has shown a level of seriousness underneath that due to his past experiences. In all honesty, Ren believed that it was like trying to keep track of two Noras in the beginning.

He looks back to the conversation he had with Luffy earlier and can't help but wonder what made him hold a conversation for so long. He was never one to talk a lot, often limiting himself to short responses or comments. He could say that he liked the change in pace. Ren shelves away his inner musings in favor of the pancakes he is currently cooking. Though one quick thought made its way in.

'Wonder how the others are dealing with Nora.' Ren thought with a smirk, knowing how much of a handful she can be.

* * *

 _With Nora and the others..._

Team RWBY and Nora decided to look for Pyrrha and Jaune before enduring Nora's inquiries. It would be better to go through them together in case they get the same question from two parties since they don't feel like repeating the answers.

They have a feeling that Luffy was with Ren, so if he had any it would be Luffy answering.

Everyone other than the sisters never felt so incredibly curious in their lives. They have no real reason to learn about a world gone by, but it was interesting enough to want to learn more about it.

The group reached the library, where they figured the two might be. Surely enough, they found Pyrrha and Jaune sitting at a table in the far corner of the facility. The area was surprisingly not packed with students having the drive to keep up with schoolwork.

"We should totally bring a board game in here." Yang whispered to Ruby who nodded and Weiss looking at her in disapproval. As they come closer to the duo, they noticed Jaune sleeping with his head in one of the books, the rest stacked next to him. Pyrrha perks up after seeing them approach them.

"Jaune is mentally exhausted after all the work. He's only napping." Pyrrha explained before they could ask. Yang had a cheeky grin at that.

"Oh really... how long was he out?" Yang asked. Blake looks to her with wide eyes as she caught on to her little game.

"Whatever you do Pyrrha, don't answer her questions. They lead to nothing but teasing." Blake warned in a panicking tone. She's gotten way too used to those certain moments where Yang tries to insinuate something... suggestive.

The red head nods in acknowledgement of the warning while Yang pouts at her partner.

'Killjoy.' Yang thought to herself. She didn't bother getting the answer and decides to wake the boy up. She walks up to his side and thought of one thing that can stir him from slumber.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol." the blonde whispered into his ear. It did the trick when Jaune bolted up wide awake.

"Oh God! Please not another one, Luffy!" he said really fast as he woke up with fear. The Armament training may as well be hell for him due to Luffy's lack of restraint. He can even hear that haunting phrase in his dreams. He looks around to see the others snickering at his reaction.

"Oh ha ha. Man, I slept for a while. Thanks Pyrrha, I needed that." Jaune said as he noticed what time it is. Yang silently thanked her fellow blonde for giving the answer to her question as she had a sly grin on her face.

'Was she staring at his sleeping form the entire time?' was what she wanted to ask, but she'll spare Pyrrha of the teasing for the moment.

"Since that's out of the way, we can continue sating everyone's curiosity. And Nora, please try to keep the questions from getting... inappropriate." Weiss told the orange haired girl in a chiding tone.

"Yeah, we didn't need the reminder that Luffy's tongue can stretch." Ruby noted. Nora laughed sheepishly at that.

"Hehehe... sorry about that. I was just thinking how cool it would be if he could wrap that around food like a lizard." Nora reasoned.

Everyone, including Yang, looked at the two in a bit of shock, clearly thinking they meant something else entirely. Now that they thought about it, Nora never finished her question earlier. Yet Ruby seemed to know what exactly she was going to ask.

"W-wait a second. The other night, you were going to ask if his tongue can stretch?" Pyrrha inquired, with Nora and Ruby nodding in unison. "Then why was it so embarrassing to you?" she asked Ruby. The girl was pressing her index fingers together, feeling flustered about why.

"B-because I overheard why some of the girls at Signal asked that in the first place. They keep talking about how he would be incredible at kissing." Ruby explained with a blush, later followed by the others when they imagined that. Yang's eye twitched at this new info, feeling anger towards the girls for trying to be intimate with Luffy so quickly.

"The tongue can lead to some naughty things other than that too. What did you guys think we were talking about?" Nora added. The group were sweating bullets at the misunderstanding.

"Come on girls, get your minds out of the gutter." Jaune commented offhandedly with a dull look. He'll admit that he thought that too, but it was more out of envy rather than dirty thoughts.

The girls paled at his comment as Ruby stared at them with half lidded eyes. She already knew that Yang explored such areas with her imagination, but to know that the others had the same thought process...

"Moving away from that... what did you want to ask?" Ruby told Nora as she tries to hold off the other topic for later.

'Don't make it seem like it's no big deal!' they thought in unison. They were half expecting a stern scolding for assuming such things so readily.

"Right, so we heard about a Second and Third Gear. Is there a Fourth?" Nora asked in childish wonder.

"Yes, he does have a Fourth Gear... but the only thing we heard about it are the drawbacks for using it. He said he wants to make it a surprise for us." Ruby replied with a sigh. It wasn't fair that they get kept in the dark about that after witnessing the sheer power behind the other two gears. The only reason he would tell them the drawbacks was so they could protect him when he is in such a vulnerable state.

"And those drawbacks would be?" Blake said.

"He becomes so exhausted that he can't move his body and he can't use Haki for some time." Yang answered in Ruby's place. This caused a bit of confusion for them after hearing that he loses the ability to use Haki.

"I'm guessing that means you can run out of Haki just like with Aura?" Weiss surmised, which was proven accurate by the sisters' nods. Taking in the new piece of info, they concluded that even with the variety of abilities that Haki has, it is not as omnipotent as they once thought.

"Oh oh, what happens when two Armaments hit each other?" Nora questioned. Seeing as she wants to learn Armament herself, she might as well have more details about it.

"Then it just comes down to who's more proficient in it. There were even times when two Conquerors clashed." Ruby responded with hidden excitement. She wants to have front row seats for such a clash, believing that it would be quite the spectacle.

The others attempted to imagine the scenario, only to follow along with the young girl's exuberance. Pyrrha, however, had a different thought.

'So even if I learned Armament, the champion would still beat me due to having superior Haki.' she thought with a downcast expression. She was hoping to gain an edge, but that edge would prove to be useless if her Haki is not on the same level.

Jaune notices the gloomy look on the red head and puts a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, even if he has no clue why she's sad. Pyrrha turns to him with a small smile for it.

"Come to think of it, what does it feel like to be hit by Conqueror's Haki?" Jaune asked curiously, seeing as Luffy rarely used that form of Haki. Ruby tilts her head in thought as she tries to express the experience into words. He did indeed launch a wave of that Haki at the two, but only because they wanted to see how they fared against it.

Fortunately, they can both remain conscious.

"Umm... lets say that your mind is a boat in the ocean. And then there is this huge tidal wave trying to sink you. If you have a more sturdy 'boat', then you can resist it. Though sometimes you would still get weakened by it." Ruby explained to the best of her ability. The rest stayed silent as they made note of the varying results.

It wasn't divided by two extremes, but it also included a bit of middle ground. Based on Ruby's analogy, their resistance would be measured by their own will.

"When did you start believing he was reincarnated? You must've dismissed it as unbelievable from the start, so what changed that." Pyrrha wondered, remembering how incredulous they were when they heard it. The thought made it safe to assume that his family reacted the same way at first.

"It all started back when Luffy first wanted to be a huntsman. Uncle Qrow supported his decision, but our dad wasn't so keen on the idea. So Luffy told him 'If I can land one hit on you, then I'm going to be a huntsman.', and dad took him up on his challenge. It was only until Luffy started using Second Gear and Haki when he finally got him. He was about ten at the time, so it didn't hurt that much." Yang said as recalls the memory.

"We couldn't think of any other way to explain how a little kid managed to land a blow on a full fledged huntsman other than his reincarnation." Ruby added. The answer satisfied Pyrrha as she and the others agreed with that logic.

Were it any other kid, they would lack the actual combat experience to even hit a huntsman, even if they were prodigies.

"Seeing you three look so close, I would've believed that Luffy was your brother." Jaune commented. The sisters gave a soft smile at the notion.

"It's funny that you say that. A lot of people would assume that we're related in that way, even though we're not related by blood. But who says that blood defines family." Ruby said, resulting in confusion from the others.

"You're both not related to him?" a baffled Blake said. She honestly took it to face value when they said they were cousins, considering that Luffy doesn't lie.

"No. He was adopted into the family after he lost his parents when he was a baby. We found him under the nurses' care at the time that Ruby was born. No one ever knew what happened to them, some are saying that they got killed by Grimm." Yang said solemnly. While it is sad that he lost his real parents, Luffy still managed to be under the care of a loving family.

"Do you think his parents from the life before were the same ones now?" Weiss theorized.

"I don't think so. While Luffy doesn't know anything about his mom, we do know that his dad was really powerful back then. I doubt he would die so easily." Ruby stated.

"And what was he back then?" Weiss questioned further.

"He's the leader of the Revolutionaries. They're this organization that oppose the World Government and everything that it stands for. Other than that, the Straw Hats never really got involved with them. Robin was pretty much the only member to spend some time with them along with one of Luffy's brothers, Sabo." Yang informed based on what she heard from Luffy.

Even with how long Robin was with the Revolutionaries, they still don't know much about their actual motives.

Nora had a sudden thought in her head that pertains to where Luffy is. He's with Ren, most likely hungry by now. Ren only knows how to make pancakes, and that uses syrup. With Luffy's gluttonous appetite, the syrup would be...

"Ahh! Luffy is going to take all the syrup!" Nora shouted before sprinting out of the library as she rushes to stop Luffy from devouring all of it.

"Can she not shout so loud. We're in a library." Weiss hissed. They decided to return the books to their rightful place on the shelves before vacating the area.

Ruby and Blake ended up in the same aisle as the younger girl noticed the deep thought that Blake was in.

"What's wrong Blake?" she asked in concern for her teammate.

"Nothing." the black haired girl replied.

"Come on Blake. We're a team, you can trust me." Ruby assured her, trying to get her to open up. The hidden faunus sighs in defeat as she places another book on the shelf.

"Your sister... thinks that I'm interested in Luffy." Blake said begrudgingly.

"Okay, everyone is curious about his life. It's like trying to solve a big mystery." Ruby told her, not getting what Blake meant by it.

"No, I mean she thinks I'm romantically interested." Blake corrected her leader. It dawned on Ruby at that point as she had a look of realization.

"O-oh... well as long as you two support each other and are happy together, then I'm fine with that." Ruby said as she gave the 'okay' on the matter. Blake facepalmed at her assumption.

"Listen Ruby, I don't have that kind of interest in him. Yang just doesn't believe it. I'm surprised you're not taking a role in this, though." Blake said.

"How can I get Luffy together with a girl when I never been in a relationship myself. Yang has a bit of experience and also relies on her instincts to tell if a girl seems just right for Luffy. You're lucky though, it's very rare to gain her approval." Ruby explained with a slight blush at her lack of a relationship.

She doesn't have a knack for it like Yang does, so she hardly bothers with that topic. Blake notices how very uncomfortable she just made Ruby feel and can't help but feel guilty over it.

"Sorry for bringing this up." she quickly apologized.

"D-don't worry about it. I wanted you to tell me in the first place. But I would like it if you can stop keeping him at arms reach, as well as us." Ruby suggested to Blake, which is met with silence.

Blake ponders on the suggestion, but she fears their reaction when they find out about her secret. She's sure that some of them would be open minded at her being a faunus, but she's scared of how revealing her status as a former White Fang member would go. It's times like this that she wished that she had Luffy's honesty and fearlessness.

He never tried to lie to them about his pirate life, and he never seemed scared of what they would think of him afterwards. But that was in a different world, where as the White Fang are still looked down upon as criminals right now.

She was broken out of her musings by Weiss and Yang.

"If you're done here, then lets head back to our dorm." Weiss said.

"Yeah, lets _book_ it before Nora pummels Luffy for robbing the syrup." Yang punned, causing the three to groan at her.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **To put it simply, Luffy's Aura is like having multiple tanks linked together. But he thought he was seeing all the Aura he has, when in actuality it isn't. Sorry if it sounds very confusing to you.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	15. The First Mate

**It's time to take a break from Luffy's side and show a few reincarnates of One Piece.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 15**

In a region forgotten by the kingdoms, lies an abandoned castle with ruined buildings surrounding it. Well... not necessarily abandoned since there are three occupants that live there. The ancient building is surrounded by a seemingly endless amount of forest.

Those forests however are inhabited by an outrageous amount of high class Grimm. Simple Beowolfs and Ursas become a rare sight, while the Alphas and Majors along with other powerful Grimm are of incredible abundance. It was due to this irregularity that no one ever tried to explore that region. The castle was just a miserable attempt to expand civilization ages ago.

In a small clearing stands a seventeen year old man standing at about 6'3 with cropped green hair, lightly tanned skin, and a muscular build.

He also obtained a scar that goes from the left shoulder to the right hip from underestimating the strong Grimm early on, as well as another scar running down his left eye. Although the left eye scar wasn't as severe as the last time, so his eye is still intact.

His outfit includes a bright yellow short sleeve jacket left open to reveal his massive scar, a green haramaki under the jacket that holds a singular sword on the right hand side, a pair of black trousers tucked into his boots, a black bandanna wrapped around his left forearm, and three gold earrings on the left earlobe.

The sword he carries is a straight blade with a white hilt and sheathe with a circular hand-guard.

This man is none other than Roronoa Zoro, former bounty hunter, member of the Straw Hat pirates, Santoryu user, owner of Wado Ichimonji, and once held the title of the Greatest Swordsman in the last life. Though currently, he is the champion of the Mistral Tournament three years in a row.

Due to the fact he was reborn, Zoro had to regain his strength from scratch when he started training at the age of seven. This aggravated him to no end as he is in a weaker body. Most of the techniques he developed through the New World are out of reach at the moment, such as the enhanced variants of some of his old moves.

He entered the Mistral Tournament in an effort to recover the lost strength faster, only to find that only one of the contestants proved a small challenge, even if he still beat her with little trouble anyway.

So he sticks to training in the dangerous forest where he thinks the Grimm give him more of a workout, which is why he didn't want to attend a huntsman academy. Though it didn't hurt to enter the tournament just to change things up a little.

Much like Luffy, Zoro received his sword from a peculiar salesman. It happened shortly after he regained his memories, which he figured out it had something to do with his Aura that he unlocked around the same time. As much as it was confusing that the salesman had it on him, seeing the sword in his grasp once again makes him think that the promise he made to Kuina must be kept once more.

So now he wishes to regain the title of Greatest Swordsman once again.

Zoro never entertained the idea that anyone like him made it to this world other than the two people he lives with.

Standing in the center of the clearing, he waits for the next wave of competitors to approach. He turns his attention to the rustling sounds at the edge of the clearing. Zoro gives a dark smirk upon noticing a small pack of Alpha Beowolves enter the scene.

"Heh. I waited this long for you guys to show up, just to get you weaklings. You're not even close to a warm up." the swordsman taunted in confidence. One of the Grimm snarled at him, as if understanding the insult.

Instead of all of them rushing to their demise, one charged at him to assist the others with sizing up the opponent. A metal click was heard before the Alpha got bisected across the hip when it got close to the green haired man, with his sword drawn.

 **Ittoryu: Yakkodori** ( _One Sword Style: Disaster Harbor Bird_ )

He swings his sword to launch a crescent shaped projectile of compressed air at the distant Grimm. The beasts evaded, but one of them had an arm severed from the body.

It howled in pain before charging at him recklessly in an effort to return the favor. Zoro sidesteps a one-handed claw strike before jumping away as the two Alphas flanked his sides.

The swordsman grits his teeth in annoyance as he wanted to settle this with just one sword. But the strategic placement of the Grimm is making it difficult to deal with only one sword.

So he activated his semblance as Aura manifested into the form of a sword and sheathe. The Aura faded, but in its place was an actual sword.

The sword that came to existence has a black lacquered sheathe and handle, a cross shaped guard, and a normal blade with an irregular design. This was called the Yubashiri.

Zoro's semblance allows him to summon the swords he previously wielded. The amount of Aura used varies with what weapon he brought out. While Yubashiri uses more Aura than if he summoned a normal katana, it's still less costly than the likes of Shisui or Sandai Kitetsu. If his summoned weapon is still intact, he can recover the used Aura by storing it back in whatever dimension it came from.

One might say that his summoned swords come from his own memories.

The quality of the weapons on Remnant can't really hold up against his power, showing that while he is weakened he still has some ridiculous strength.

Drawing out the second sword from its sheathe, he enters a stance where Wado Ichimonji is held in his right hand in a normal grip, while Yubashiri is in his other hand behind him in reverse grip.

The handicapped Grimm leaps into the fray and circles around him to find a best point of attack. Zoro didn't give it the chance as he lunged at it with a swing from both swords, giving it an x-shaped wound on it. He then stabs it in the stomach before decapitating it with a clean cut.

The last two Alphas glanced at each other before dashing at him at the same time.

Zoro holds both of his swords in front of him pointing straight up as his two adversaries get closer.

" **Sai Kuru** ( _Rolling Rhino_ )"

He spins quickly, launching them in the air with several cuts dotting their bodies. They slammed into the ground with a crunch as another challenger approaches.

The swordsman scans the newcomer and takes note of its form. The creature stands on its two hind legs, a foot taller than Zoro. It's thick bodied with a tail, but not as much as a Ursa, and has white bone armor on its forearms, face, feet, and small spikes on its back.

The beast jabbed its claws into its fallen comrades before it could dissipate completely, only for the corpses to be absorbed into the appendages. Zoro glares at it as he knows exactly what it is.

"A Wolverine huh... and it just took the strength of those two." Zoro stated.

The Wolverine snarled as a singular claw extended from both of its wrist to a length of one yard. As long as the dead Grimm haven't disappeared, the creature can absorb them to extend its claws and gain more ferocity.

It's a rather resourceful Grimm, making use of its dead comrades.

The now enhanced Wolverine rushes at Zoro with great speed before swiping its claws at him. He backpedals away as he continues to block each of its swipes with a little effort.

Zoro backs into a tree and jumps to the side to avoid another slash. The Wolverine sliced clean through the tree as it fell down, showing how sharp those claws are.

The green haired man takes initiative and presses the offensive. The dark beast struggles to keep both swords at bay, showing the difference in skill. It took a small cut across its chest before it retreated a little bit to find an Ursa Major.

Before the Major could do anything, the Wolverine pounced on top of it and started slashing it apart. Zoro stares on, unfazed by the brutality since he has already seen that happen.

The Wolverine tend to work independently, never really relying on another Grimm's help. But when it knows it cannot win a fight at current capacity, it will kill its own allies to use its absorption ability to gain an edge.

"Tch, what a pain you're turning out to be." Zoro commented offhandedly as he puts both swords into one hand and summoned another sword.

This time it was Sandai Kitetsu, the cursed sword. It has a moderately curved blade with a blue hamon that looks like flames, a gold handguard in the shaped of a rounded cross, and the hilt and sheathe is a reddish brown with a golden clasp in the middle.

He puts the hilt of Wado Ichimonji into his mouth and holds the other two in each of his hands. The beast just finished its absorption process as it is giving off an extreme sense of bloodlust.

"No matter how many Grimm you take, I'll always cut you down in the end." Zoro said, as if he was challenging it. The Wolverine took the bait and charged with greater speed.

" **Toro Nagashi** ( _Sword Wolf Hunting_ )"

Zoro approaches the ongoing barrage of slashes as he blocks some of the attacks with two of his swords. The rest were evaded by twisting his body. He got close enough to land another cut on the stomach with the third sword as he passed by it.

The Wolverine howled in pain before turning around to attack Zoro from behind. He blocks it by holding his swords over his head, effectively stopping the descending attack.

After a short power struggle, Zoro prevailed, resulting in a parry that knocked it off balance. He turns quickly while imbuing all three swords with Armament, preparing the final blow.

" **Oni Giri** ( _Demon Slash_ )"

Left wide open, the Wolverine took the brunt of the attack. Gaping slash wounds can be seen across its chest before it died. Even the claws were sliced off near the base.

Zoro sheathed both of his summoned swords before they dissipated into nothingness. He takes Wado Ichimonji out of his mouth before sheathing it as well.

"There's been less Grimm prowling around. Maybe I killed too many." Zoro thought in disappointment of the lacking number of Grimm. He was used to fighting hordes of them back then, though it seems their numbers are diminishing somehow.

Before he could wander around for any more Grimm to hunt. He hears a voice in the distance.

"Zoro! Where are you!? Did you get lost... again?" said the feminine voice that Zoro is all too familiar with. His eye twitched in annoyance as he turns to the source of the sound.

He finds a shorter girl with big round eyes, long pink hair done in multiple spiral braids, pink nail polish, and a pink bat tattoo on the left bicep. She wears a strapless black dress with frills, red high heels, a top hat, and holds a teddy bear along with a parasol.

"I'm not lost Perona, the forest is like a maze!" Zoro argued. Perona just shrugs off the argument since it was already made clear before.

"Whatever you say, but someone wants to see you. Apparently it's some friend of Mihawk's." Perona noted before going back to the castle... with Zoro going the other way.

"Why can't you just follow me like any normal person!" Perona yelled out in irritation.

* * *

After a long time of walking and redirecting Zoro back on track, they made it back to the ancient castle that they called home. The old furniture, echoing footsteps, and dreaded atmosphere give off the feeling that it's haunted.

They entered the living room to two men across from each other, one of them being Qrow.

The other man, presumed to be Dracule Mihawk, stood at 6'6 with a short beard, mustache, sideburns, and hair all in black. He also has piercing yellow eyes that resemble that of a hawk.

His casual attire consisted of a white open dress shirt, a pair of black pants and boots. He also wears a kogatana on his neck in the form of a cross necklace. While he doesn't have the black blade, Yoru, he does have a close replica that was forged from the finest metals in Remnant.

It may not be the absolute strongest sword, but it still gets the job done with his skills in mind.

"I heard a friend of yours wanted to see me, old man." Zoro said.

"I wouldn't really call him a friend, more like an acquaintance through Shanks." Mihawk corrected him with a stoic expression.

In their younger years, Qrow and Shanks met at a bar and quickly became drinking buddies. Later down the line, Mihawk got dragged into it along with Shanks, thus meeting Qrow himself.

Zoro quirked a brow at the mention of the red haired pirate.

Where was he the entire time? He shelves those thoughts for later as he focused his attention to the other man.

"So I take it that he is your 'son'? I thought he be shorter than I imagined." Qrow said as he jabbed at Zoro's height. He was already informed of their relation to each other.

While they may not treat each other as such, Mihawk took Zoro in as his son. Much like Qrow and Luffy.

Mihawk enjoyed the rivalry that he had against Zoro. So in order to recover it, he would train him once more like he did in the last life. This seems to agree with Zoro's ambition, so they just stuck together. Although, Mihawk isn't the most hospitable person to be around with.

Perona just happened to find the place by floating around using her devil fruit.

"What is it that you need from me?" Zoro asked as he wanted to get straight to the point.

"Cutting to the chase, are we? Well I thought my son would like to have a reunion with you." Qrow answered before he fished a photo from his pocket.

Zoro was skeptical of the answer before he saw the photo with widened eyes. It was a family photo with Ruby, Yang, and Luffy in front as little kids. Qrow and Taiyang were standing behind them.

"Luffy?" was all he said in shock. He could only name one person that wears that straw hat.

"So you are his first mate. What will you do now Zoro? Stay here, constantly training until you can beat your dad here. Or join his side to keep tabs on him and the others." Qrow inquired before taking a swig from his flask.

There was only so much that they can do as they are, but things are slowly changing and they're gonna need the extra help. Zoro stood there in silence as he thought about the choice.

In the end, the answer was obvious.

Were it not for their adventures, Zoro would've been stuck with no opponents that can push him beyond his limits. It was one of the reasons that he became the greatest swordsman in the first place. Their dreams pushed each other to making them reality.

Even if they're not pirates anymore, he still maintains his loyalty to his captain.

"Where is he right now?" Zoro asked, indirectly giving his response.

"He's at Beacon Academy in Vale right now. You have quite the trip ahead of you." Qrow replied.

With that, Zoro starts to leave to his room to pack whatever he needs for the trek.

"Zoro, your room is that way. I can't believe that you don't know your way around your own home." Perona informed him in exasperation as she pointed in a different direction, causing him to scowl.

"Your directions are confusing!" Zoro exclaimed, blaming the girl for his blunder.

"And you still blame _me_ for your crappy sense of directions!" Perona countered.

The two adults watched on as the two argued who was at fault. Qrow could only sweatdrop at their bickering.

"This is the day in the life of you, huh?" Qrow surmised.

"Unfortunately, yes. They're as rowdy as you two when you're drunk." Mihawk compared the troublesome duos.

"That bad? I gotta say, when Luffy was telling me about his sense of directions, he made it sound like the most legendary ability there is." Qrow said in a joking manner.

"I heard that, old man!" Zoro yelled at Qrow. A tickmark grew on his head at the 'old man' comment.

"Then I guess that makes you the lost little boy!" Qrow taunted, riling Zoro up even further. They both had their hands on the hilt of their respective weapons, prepared to duke it out. Perona was backing away from them in fear of a fight breaking out.

"Just so we're clear, you're going to be the ones fixing the place if you start this." Mihawk warned them. It quickly defused the tension as they relaxed.

They didn't have the time for repairing the damage they would bring.

Qrow kept his gaze on Zoro and Perona as they left the room with the girl leading the way.

'Heh, can't say you're family unless you argued at least once.' he thought to himself.

"What's the real reason for this visit?" Mihawk asked him in a suspicious tone. No one just journeys through a forest filled with high end Grimm just to chat or deliver news.

This broke Qrow out of his thoughts as he contemplates on his answer.

"Gathering whatever intel I can get. Thought I might as well tell Zoro that Luffy is wondering where he is, and give you a bit of a warning. _She_ is starting to make her move. And she has her eye on an island, probably looking for more pawns." Qrow guessed. Mihawk says nothing but keeps the warning in mind.

"Geez, it's like you guys were brought here as gladiators. Given certain possessions to arm yourselves for battle. Yet you didn't seem to gain anything after recovering your memories. Why is that?" Qrow inquired. Luffy got his devil fruit, Zoro has his sword, but Mihawk didn't seem to have his old Yoru.

"Perhaps to level the playing field for everyone else. We aren't the only ones fighting. Some of the devil fruits may seem too much for Remnant to handle should they exist." Mihawk theorized.

"Hmm... point taken. You could still cut down buildings as you are now Mr. Greatest Swordsman." Qrow commented. Before they could continue their conversation, Zoro and Perona were seen walking through the living room and towards the main entrance.

"I take it that you're gonna lead him to Vale, ghost girl. Roronoa, keep the drinking to a minimum." Mihawk said.

"I'll drink as much as I want." Zoro told him in irritation.

"And it's not like I have much of a choice. Someone has to be the tour guide for this idiot." Perona said, earning a glare from Zoro.

Qrow snorted at the exchange. Underneath all of that, they still have some mutual trust to each other. He takes another swig from his flask before heading out himself.

"Well I guess I should take my leave. What are you gonna do all on your lonesomeness?" Qrow inquired to Mihawk. The greatest swordsman picks up and holsters his Yoru on his back.

"Kill time." he said nonchalantly.

'Figuratively or literally.' he joked to himself.

They went their separate ways as they do whatever their goal entails.

As the duo travel down the dirt road leading out of the forest, another pack of Alpha Beowolves enter their line of sight, this time with a few Ursa Majors tagging along.

Zoro smirked at their appearance as he was about to draw his sword, if it wasn't for Perona stopping him.

"We're trying to get to Vale, not spend an eternity fighting Grimm." she reminded him. Zoro let out a 'tch' in response as Perona summoned Negative Hollows using the Horo Horo no mi ( _Hollow Hollow Fruit_ ).

The hollows begin to lure the Grimm away by using the negativity that it contains. It's very useful for crowd control against the beasts. Minutes later and the Grimm cleared out of the way as they continued to follow the silly looking ghosts.

"Horohorohoro, now that that's out of the way we can get a move on... and we're not taking any of your shortcuts!" Perona yelled as she spotted Zoro leaving the dirt road.

* * *

In the prestine manor owned by the Schnee family, a tall, slim man lays on the couch trying to take a nap.

He stands at a height of 6'9, much shorter than he was in his past life. He has curly black hair instead of the usual white found in other family members, tanned skin, and is currently wearing a sleep mask. The rest of his attire consists of a light blue suit over a white shirt with matching pants and a pair of dress shoes.

In the previous life, he was known by his alias as Aokiji. Now he goes by Kuzan Schnee, eldest sibling of the family next to his three other siblings.

His lazy demeanor usually puts him at odds with his father, not putting any thought into either becoming a huntsman or joining the Atlesian military. He doesn't even care for being the heir to the family.

He continues his attempts at resting, but was interrupted by a sudden thought. He may as well call Weiss to see how she's doing in Beacon. He pulls out his scroll and quickly dials the number to her scroll. A few rings later, the call was answered.

" _Why are you calling at this hour, Kuzan?_ " Weiss said through the phone. Kuzan rolled his eyes at the sudden question. She wasn't trying to be rude, it was just random for her to receive a call from him.

"Wow, not even a polite 'hello'. I guess I picked a bad time to check on my sister." he said in a teasing manner.

" _Er, I apologize. I was just in the middle of something right now. I think they can handle it without me though._ " she said. Kuzan could faintly hear noise in the background, but ignored it.

"So how is your school? I hope you're making good friends. And before Winter can get on to you about this, are you eating well? Are you getting enough sleep?" Kuzan asked a series of small questions in place of their sister. He shares the same care towards Weiss as Winter, although a bit more lax.

" _*sigh* Yes, yes, I'm doing fine. The foods is... above average. Sleeping hasn't been an issue, although you could use less sleep. And I'm getting used to my team, along with one other person._ " Weiss gave a report of her well being to her brother. Before he could ask who that other person is, noise got a little louder.

" _Ack! Save me, Weiss! Nora is getting crazy!_ " came a familiar voice that he knows. Kuzan could only widen his eyes in surprise of who's with her.

" _You will pay for your transgression! The penalty for such folly is breaking your legs!_ " an enraged Nora said.

" _Well if you didn't devour all of her syrup Luffy, she wouldn't be after you. And Nora, I don't think you can break his legs._ " Weiss deadpanned. After a few seconds the noise lowered as it sounded like the aggressor was either restrained or incapacitated.

" _Whew, that was close. Huh, who are you talking to?_ " Luffy said as he noticed Weiss on her scroll.

" _If you must know, I'm talking to my brother._ " Weiss answered, satisfying his curiosity.

" _Wha-! You have a brother! Can I talk to him?_ " Luffy asked with excitement.

" _No you can't. Sorry, can we perhaps talk later?_ " Weiss said the last bit towards Kuzan, who regained his composure from the shock.

"Yeah, that's fine. You seem a bit busy after all." Kuzan said before ending the call with a quick goodbye. He continues to lay on the couch as he focused his thoughts on the fact that Luffy is attending Beacon with Weiss. His lips curled up into a small smile at the conclusion.

'Looks like I don't have to worry about you. With someone like him, you will treasure that friendship in due time.' Kuzan thought to himself as he recalls how Robin found her place in the world.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Decided to give some minor alterations on Zoro's physical appearance since he's in a different body. I'll refrain from using any of his post-time skip attacks since he lacks the strength to do them at the moment.**

 **As for devil fruit incarnates, not everyone is gonna have their devil fruits returned. Instead they will appear in the form of a semblance closely linked to them.**

 **I also have a poll going on. I have a few story ideas, but don't know which one to pick first. So I'll let you decide which is more interesting to see. Though I'm still gonna work on this story before starting another.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	16. Bullies

**Disclaimer : I do not own** **One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 16**

Another day has arrived to Beacon as Weiss and Blake were in their uniforms planning a course of action on how to wake up the family trio.

"Here's the plan, I'll try to wake those two up while you get Luffy." Weiss strategized. Blake reluctantly nodded her head at the idea, not really sure why _she_ has to be the one.

They both entered the room as they attempt to wake them.

Blake spots her target sprawled out on the bed with a smile. She walks up to the bedside and tries to shake him.

She may as well try a softer method before concluding that it's impossible. Just like Yang said, light shaking doesn't work.

"Luffy." she said in a hush tone as she nudged him again, only to meet the same result. The hidden faunus sighs to herself before the scar on his chest caught her attention.

Out of all the times that she seen him topless, she never bothered to take notice of it until now. Blake grimaced as she runs a hand through it, feeling the roughness of the wound. Judging by the looks of it, he must of received it years ago.

'No child should be getting a scar like this. What the hell happened to him?' Blake thought in concern. She pushes those thoughts aside in favor of the task she was given.

A loud whistle noise was heard close by followed by a few thumps, which startled Blake until she decided to ignored it.

She climbs onto the bed and straddles his waist before shaking him by the shoulders with more force. Nothing happens, so she abandoned any more attempts and decided to pull his cheeks apart in hopes of disturbing his sleep.

Her faunus ears twitched as Blake did this, feeling a little amused from the action. After tugging the appendages around a little longer, she lets them snap back into place before she gave the same treatment with the earlobes. Luffy remained asleep as all of this was going on.

She proceeded to have her own fun by toying with his rubber face, switching between any possible parts like his ears, nose, and cheeks. On occasion, she would let out a soft giggle. She was starting to have too much fun coming up with silly faces after some experimenting.

Although all good things have to come to an end.

"Ahem."

Blake stiffened her posture as she heard someone behind her. The raven haired girl slowly turned her head to find Weiss staring at her with a raised brow and dull eyes.

"You look like you're having fun. May I remind you that we still have class?" Weiss informed her with a smirk at catching Blake in an embarrassing situation.

"H-h-how long were you standing there?" Blake stammered with a scarlet face.

"Around the time you started molding his face. Be thankful that it was me and not Yang. I'll handle it from here." Weiss relieved Blake of 'wake up' duty.

Blake paled at the thought of the blonde witnessing the event unfold. That was a heaping load of teasing and blackmail waiting to happen. Weiss might hold it as blackmail instead.

The hidden cat faunus climbed off of the bed, which she just realized how suggestive the position was, and slowly made her way past the heiress.

"How did you wake them up?" Blake asked, slowly recovering from embarrassment.

"What do you think the whistling noise was about?" the heiress replied with a question.

Blake was able to piece together what that was exactly. Weiss found Ruby's whistle and decided to get payback from the first day.

" _Owww, my ears are still ringing._ " Ruby complained, causing Blake to sweatdrop.

*smack*

"Ahh! My island of meat is gone!" Luffy yelled as he was woken up with a slap in the face.

"Is that the only thing you dream about!?" Weiss wondered incredulously.

* * *

Most of the day was as normal as any other school day. Right now they're in Glynda's combat class.

Mrs. Goodwitch seems to notice a trend in two people. Luffy always volunteers for a spar, itching for a fight as usual. At least he doesn't pick the same opponent twice. Unlike the other person who always chooses only one person out of the crowd. And she is witnessing that very same matchup.

Cardin Winchester versus Jaune Arc.

It has already been done to death, yet Cardin still insists on still challenging Jaune. And Jaune keeps taking the challenge.

He's tenacious if anything else.

With each consecutive fight, the blonde is improving ever so slightly. The most notable improvement being his evasive instincts, most likely due to Luffy's rigorous spars.

She is well aware of their secret training sessions, and respects their drive to hone their skills or learn new ones.

"Will you stop dodging, you coward!" the young man with burnt orange swept hair growled out as he swung his mace again. Jaune jumped back to dodge the strike.

"Why should I stop doing the one thing that's keeping me in the game?" Jaune asked rhetorically, earning him a fuming Cardin. The spectators couldn't really argue with that.

"Shishishi, Jaune is getting better." Luffy stated the obvious.

Yeah, but it's only dodging. He can't win if he doesn't attack." Yang said.

Jaune continues to evade as he sticks to the plan.

'Alright, if he keeps wasting energy on swinging that thing around, he should be tired enough that I can actually start hitting him.' he recited the plan in his head. After a few of the 'bully' spars, he learned the hard way that he can't win in a contest of strength, so he avoids any direct clashes lest he gets overwhelmed.

The blonde ducked under another swing before rolling out of an overhead swing following afterwards, which left a small crater. Jaune was lightly panting in exhaustion from all of the maneuvers, while Cardin tries to catch his breath. The bully only managed to score a few hits throughout the battle.

'For once, Mr. Arc is using defensive measures instead of blindly attacking with no regard to his surroundings. But this evasion can only last as long as his stamina.' Glynda thought, taking note of the blonde's change in tactics.

Though he still struggles to handle multiple tasks at the same time. He's either focusing on only defense or offense.

Seeing Cardin struggle to recover, Jaune takes the opportunity to strike back.

The bully had a smirk on his face as his opponent approached. Grabbing a handful of the dust created from the last attack, he flings it at Jaune's face. The boy was taken off guard as he got blinded by the dirty trick.

Cardin seized the advantage and slammed his mace on Jaune's side, sending him across the arena. The spectators winced at the impact he suffered as he tumbled across the ground.

He didn't stop there, however, as he ran to the downed blonde and grabbed his ankle before swinging him over his head and slammed him back first into the ground.

Jaune gritted his teeth in pain as he laid on the ground, trying to muster the strength to get up.

"Give it up, Jauney Boy." Cardin said with a tone of arrogance.

"I won't quit!" Jaune said in defiance.

"Tch... suit yourself." Cardin told him before bringing down the mace, only to be shocked at Jaune rolling out of the way.

Among the spectators, Pyrrha was feeling tense as the fight went on. She subconsciously holds her breath each time her partner comes close to taking a blow. Luffy seems to notice her troubled expression.

"Oi... what's wrong Pyra?" he asked in curiosity, breaking Pyrrha out of her worrying thoughts.

"N-nothing, nothing at all." she tried to assure him, though it doesn't work as Luffy looks incredulously at her for lying. He was about to press further until he caught a glimpse of Jaune getting pummeled while he's down.

The others see this too, with a look of disdain towards Cardin. Not too long after the constant beating, the match ended in Jaune's defeat.

"That scumbag only won because he played dirty." Yang growled in a low tone. With the way things were going before Jaune got blinded, he would've actually won the fight.

"The bad guys will do that too, though. Even if he was a coward, he still won. If this was a real fight, Jaune would've died." Luffy said bluntly in a serious tone. They flinched at the harsh truth, but wished he wasn't so blunt about it.

The 'coward' comment didn't go unheard by Cardin as he was glaring daggers at the straw hat boy.

"As harsh as it is, Mr. Branwen is right. Many criminals will not abide to fair play and resort to cheap tactics to win. Mr. Arc, I suggest you keep this in mind, even if you are slowly improving. And be sure to refer to your scroll for your Aura levels to assess the situation." Glynda reprimanded him while also admitting to Jaune's growing potential. The boy sighs in gloom as he takes the advice.

The bell rang soon after, signaling the end of class.

'At least I got somewhere.' Jaune thought to himself, looking at the bright side of things. He was interrupted from further thoughts when Pyrrha stood over him with a hand held out.

"Are you okay, Jaune?" she asked in a tone of worry.

"Other than getting beaten to a pulp, I'm... fine I guess." Jaune said as he took her hand and was pulled back up. They could hear how disheartened he was about the battle.

"I honestly feel bad that you have a leader like him." Cardin remarked before laughing his way out of the arena with his team following. Jaune clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white in anger of the insult.

"Come on, Jaune. Lets just go to the cafeteria for lunch." Pyrrha persuaded him while casting a glare in the direction of the offending team. He nodded his head in acknowledgement before taking their leave.

* * *

Teams RWBY, JNPR, and Luffy were sitting at a table eating their lunch. Jaune, however, was just picking at his food with a downcast expression.

Throughout the meal, Nora was recounting the tales of her dream while Ren was correcting some of the more ridiculous parts, such as the number of Grimm and the type of Grimm she did battle with. As much as he wanted to listen to her tall tales, Luffy was more focused on Jaune's mood.

"Are you really okay Jaune?" Luffy asked in a neutral expression, breaking Jaune's train of thought.

"Who, me? I'm _totally_ fine. See?" Jaune attempted to assure them with a thumbs up and a nervous smile. Luffy stares at him with half lidded eyes, not believing it for a second.

"Don't let what he said get to you! He's just a bully." Ruby told him flatly.

"Ruby's right. While you may have lost, your strategy was actually working and logical." Weiss chimed in with an unexpected compliment. Even if the plan was a little flawed due to stamina requirements, she probably would've done the same thing in close quarters.

The others stared at her in shock of what she said.

"Weiss actually complimented Jaune." Yang said before going into an overdramatic rant. "Holy crap! The _Weiss Age_ is upon us, we're doomed!" she exclaimed, getting a gasp from the others as their faces looked like an apocalypse is approaching. They even ignored the horrible pun in favor of following along.

"Hey! I can be nice to people!" Weiss screeched with shark teeth.

"Oh Snow Angel, you don't know how happy you made me." Jaune said with a tear threatening to spill.

"Don't get used to it! You still have a long way to go... and stop calling me Snow Angel!" Weiss reprimanded him for the nickname.

"How can I when you came down from the heavens and blessed me with praise?" Jaune whined back, earning a bout of laughter from the rest at the heiress' expense. Weiss groaned in exasperation as she was being poked fun of.

"Weiss' praise aside, Cardin has been bullying you since the beginning of the semester." Pyrrha pointed out.

"Oh please. He's just joking around." Jaune excused, causing the others to frown at the lack of admittance.

"Okay, so you're saying that knocking your books out of your hands, expanding your shield on the doorway, and throwing you in a rocket propelling locker heading for Emerald Forest was all just a joke." Blake said dryly, cornering the boy with examples of bullying. Luckily with Luffy's Observation Haki, they were able to locate Jaune's whereabouts quickly.

"Ehh! Those lockers can fly!? That's so awesome!" Luffy exclaimed with starry eyes. The others sweatdropped at him for not noticing that fact sooner. He clearly didn't pay attention to Glynda's lecture on the weapon lockers or the part that Jaune was flying overhead as she was doing so.

"W-well he's a jerk to everyone. Hell, he even picks on Luffy of all people." Jaune argued horribly, still denying the facts.

"Let me guess, he thinks Luffy is more of a freak than the faunus because of his rubber body and pegs him as a monster." Ren said, fully aware of Cardin's racial stance and opinion. Jaune nods at his teammate's observation.

"Meh, it doesn't matter what he does to me. He can call me names, spit on me, throw food at me, or whatever. I'll laugh it all off." Luffy said nonchalantly as he takes a bite out of an apple.

"But Luffy, he won't stop if you don't do anything about it. Bullies like him won't stop just because they're not getting a reaction from their victims." Blake warned him, but was completely ignored.

"Let it go, Blake. He doesn't get provoked so easily." Yang noted, silently appreciating her partner's concern. Despite how much he likes to fight, he doesn't jump straight to violence every single time.

'So he can restrain himself _from_ fighting, unless given probable cause. Yet he shows no restraint when he does fight.' Weiss thought to herself, a bit impressed with how reserved Luffy can be. He may still be childish, but he does have a facet of maturity.

A yelp of pain halted the conversation as they turn their attention to the source. They scowled at the sight of Cardin pulling on the ear of a rabbit faunus with his team laughing at the show.

The rabbit faunus is a girl with long brown hair and eyes standing at 5'6 without the inclusion of the rabbit ears.

The students around the scene aren't doing anything about it, as if they're remaining neutral in their stance.

"I'll be back." Luffy said suddenly, catching the attention of the others. They were left in confusion as he left his seat and headed towards team CRDL.

"Well, would you look at that. They are real." Cardin said, gesturing to the rabbit ears in his grip. He soon felt a hand grip his wrist very hard, causing him pain. The iron grip forced him to release his own on the appendage, giving relief to the rabbit faunus.

"Oi, stop being so annoying." the straw hat boy said with a hardened expression. Cardin backed up a bit after the boy released his arm then tried to ease the pain in his wrist.

"Oh, look at this. The king of freaks wants to add another freak into his group." Cardin said mockingly as he tried to get a rise from Luffy.

"Hi, I'm Luffy. Where are your friends at?" Luffy asked the rabbit faunus curiously. He never saw a team separated, so he thinks they're still around.

"I-I'm Velvet Scarlatina, and my team are in the middle of a class at the moment. Why do you ask?" the girl answered in confusion.

"Because if you're on your own, then you can sit at the table over there." Luffy said as he pointed at the table with Ruby waving at them. As the short exchange was going on, Cardin was seething in anger for being ignored.

"And who said you're going anywhere?" the bully growled out.

"I did and you're not getting in the way. She's my new friend, and friends stay together. See ya later _Barfin_." Luffy responded with a stupid grin, getting a snort from the students nearby.

"Hehehe, Barfin." Ruby giggled childishly at the demeaning nickname, to which Weiss facepalmed.

It was nice while the mature Ruby lasted. Although the others weren't faring any better if their snickers are any indication.

"What... did you call me?" Cardin asked in a threatening tone.

"Uhh... did I get your name wrong? Was it _Fartin_?" Luffy asked, inducing more rage into Cardin.

Velvet took the time to move to where his friends were seated while holding in her laughter. She arrives at the table to find Yang and Nora trying to stop laughing so they can catch their breath. Pyrrha, Blake, and Ruby covered their giggles with their mouths. Ren was smirking while eating his lunch. Jaune was cheered up through the comedy as he had his head down snickering. Weiss was trying her best at being the mature one out of the group, but she was slowly losing her composure.

"That's it Luffy. Do what you do best, piss the jerks off and make us laugh." Yang muttered.

"Why you little..." Cardin started off before Luffy hit his palm with his fist in realization.

"I got it! It's _Shardin_ , right?" Luffy attempted to get his name right again. Some of the onlookers were in thought of how to find the new nickname hilarious. Nora widened her eyes at a possibility.

"Hahaha... Shardin sharded himself!" she exclaimed, giving the idea to the audience. Seconds after that, a chorus of laughter sounded across the cafeteria. It doesn't matter if the jokes were immature, everyone still found a reason to find it funny.

The red faced bully had enough of the jokes and cocked his arm back, ready to punch the laughing straw hat kid for starting it all. The punch connected, but Luffy's body wobbled around from the futile attack. The straw hat flew off his head, landing close to him.

The comedic atmosphere died down after he resorted to physical violence. Teams RWBY and JNPR decided to introduce themselves to Velvet while they were letting the events unfold.

"Shishishi, attacks like that won't work on me." Luffy stated with the same grin plastered on his face.

"Grrr! Just the sight of you pisses me off. You and that stupid straw hat." Cardin said as he glanced at the hat on the floor. Luffy stiffened in response and glared at him for talking crap about his hat, which the bully's team took notice of. Yang and Ruby overheard the statement and gave a stern look at him.

"If they value their lives, they won't do what I think their doing." Yang muttered in a harsh tone.

"This isn't Signal, Yang. They don't know about that one rule." Ruby noted, leading the others into confusion. She was a bit worried about how it will turn out. If Luffy retaliated in the defense for his hat, he could end up in serious trouble with Ozpin.

"What rule is that?" Blake asked.

"You saw back in initiation how I reacted to losing a hair, right?" Yang reminded her partner, to which she nodded in confirmation. "Well... Luffy has an even worse temper when it comes to his hat. That thing means more to him than his own life." Yang informed them as calmly as she can. Everyone at the table other than Ruby stared at her with wide eyes, never thinking that his straw hat was _that_ important to him.

When Qrow bought him that straw hat, the sisters didn't really understand why Luffy treasured it so much at first. Even Qrow was surprised at how serious the kid was about prioritizing it over his life.

They just didn't know how strong of a resemblance it had to his original hat that he got from Shanks, or how much it meant to him.

The hidden cat faunus couldn't for the life of her imagine Luffy actually being enraged, always remembering him as the happy-go-lucky boy. She honestly likes the carefree version of him better.

"I hate to break it to you, but they're going to do it." Weiss told them.

"Yo Cardin, I think we got to him because of his stupid hat." Sky observed. Surely enough, Luffy tightened his fists after he heard another insult to his precious treasure.

"What... this piece of trash?" Cardin wondered, taking advantage of the new info. He lifted his foot over the straw hat, prepared to step on it. Time slowed as his foot started its descent. Luffy was about to respond with the hardest punch he can throw, until a memory of a talk he had with Qrow surfaced.

* * *

 _"Look, kid. As your dad, I would've let you defend your treasure. But I can't overlook this as a professor." Qrow lectured the boy as he was sitting on the chair with a frown._

 _They were in an office at Signal as Qrow was scolding Luffy for trying to beat a student down for making a small tear in his straw hat._

 _"You know how much my hat means to me!" Luffy argued, earning a sigh from Qrow._

 _"Yes I do. But you can't just beat the bloody mess out of another student over it, not in a school. You may have lived in a lawless world, but things are different here. If you keep this up, they might just expel you. If you really need to take them out, try not to do it through your fists." Qrow advised his adopted son._

 _The raven haired boy stared down in thought, holding onto his repaired straw hat. He seems to understand the message as he looked back at his adoptive father with a look of confidence._

 _"I'm glad you know what to do from now on. Come on, lets get going."_ _Qrow said softly as he ruffled the boy's hair. Luffy smiled at him before jumping out of the chair to follow him._

* * *

Before Cardin's foot got any closer, Luffy placed his own foot underneath the bully's. The spectators look slack jawed at the sight of the smaller boy holding Cardin's foot in place without any leverage.

They clearly know who is the stronger of the two.

"Don't touch my hat." Luffy said in a hostile tone, scaring Cardin a bit. Luffy unleashed a wave of Conqueror Haki to knock out team CRDL, causing them to fall unconscious with foam in their mouths.

He didn't have to use his fists, like Qrow said. As long as he doesn't cause physical injury, then he won't be in trouble.

The students' eyes bugged out at the sight of the entire team getting knocked out for no real reason. But deep inside, they knew that Luffy was somehow responsible.

"W-w-what just happened?" Velvet stammered in disbelief. One second, they were fine only to drop like flies in the next.

"Ehh... he psyched them out." Ruby answered without revealing the existence of Haki to the rabbit faunus. Luffy returned to them with his hat back on his head and a beaming smile.

"Yosh, now lets eat." Luffy said as if nothing happened.

"At least you resolved it with no violence." Yang chirped, which Luffy pouted at her.

"You beat people up for messing with your hair, yet I can't do the same for my hat." Luffy complained.

"Hey, I'm not the one that cracked a jaw, several ribs, and dislocated both shoulders." Yang countered. The group aside from Ruby paled at the damage report the blonde gave out, not wanting to end up like that poor sap. They thought that the damage would've been more severe, but it must've stopped short by restraining Luffy.

"W-well in any case, thanks for standing up for me. That was really sweet of you." Velvet thanked him with a soft smile.

"It's nothing to get worked up over. We're friends, right? Those ears look so cool by the way. I wish I was a faunus." Luffy innocently admired the extra pair of ears, causing Velvet to blush. Blake couldn't help but stare at their interactions, taking note that Luffy doesn't discriminate against faunus.

'I guess he just doesn't like what the White Fang are doing, but he seems to like the faunus. Although... if he knew I was one, I would've gotten that admiration.' she thought, relieved to know of Luffy's opinion. A small part of her is feeling jealous of how Velvet was getting positive treatment for being a faunus. Blake caught herself in confusion of these thoughts.

"What is wrong with me?" Blake mumbled under her breath. She failed to notice Yang staring between Luffy and Blake with a sly grin.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Sorry, the scene between Luffy and Doflamingo looked so awesome to me that I wanted to recreate it here.**

 **Don't forget to vote in the poll in my profile if you haven't already. It's going to be left open for a while.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	17. Idiocy

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 17**

Rumors and gossip spread like wildfire after what happened in the cafeteria. The students that were there at the time knew not to poke and prod at the lion that was Luffy from now on. Team CRDL, on the other hand, don't seem to know what happened exactly.

Although they did feel the chilling aftermath of Conqueror's Haki.

Even so, they started to focus their attention on the boy for humiliating them in public. However, it didn't stop them from going back to their other victims. All it really did was take some of the heat from them.

Right now, Luffy and the gang are walking down the hallway on their way to the last class of the day, history with professor Oobleck. Velvet is also tagging along, seeing as she has the same class as them and her team does not. She and the others begin to notice some odd looks from the students nearby.

A good number seem weary of Luffy and his unknown ability. Others, however, look to him in gratitude of knocking the school bullies' influence down a peg or two, showing that they also suffered from them.

"We should've expected this, given what happened back there." Ren said as he scans across the halls. It was only a matter of time until the entire school populace receives word of it.

"Are you sure about this, Luffy? Cardin and the others might try to do something about your hat again." Velvet thought in concern.

"If they do, then I'll knock them out again." Luffy answered simply as he shrugged his shoulders.

"That's not going to change anything." Blake stated, getting Luffy's attention. "People like him will stop at nothing to get you back for the embarrassment. And when they lose confidence from targeting you, they'll recharge it by going back to the easy prey like Jaune or Velvet." she finished with a harsh tone. The two aforementioned people stared with wide eyes at the possibility, thinking that she may be right.

Luffy turned to the path ahead of him with a blank expression, not really putting much about how to deal with it. When the time comes, he'll do something about it.

'Once again, what I say goes in one ear and out the other with him.' she thought in exasperation as she notices that Luffy isn't taking her insight seriously.

"You make it sound like you speak from experience." Ruby pointed out, catching Blake off guard. It was so detailed to her that makes her think that Blake lived through it at least once.

"I've... seen it happen a lot. It always played out like that every time." Blake reasoned, trying to protect her secret. She inwardly scolds herself for letting her feelings get the better of her.

The young leader accepts the response before they entered the professor's classroom to find Oobleck standing in front of his desk.

The professor, or doctor as he prefers, is a bit young for such an occupation. He has messy green hair with blue eyes covered by his round opaque glasses. The rest of his outfit is rather untidy with a white shirt partially tucked into his dark green pants, a slack yellow tie around the raised collar, and mismatched brown and black shoes. He's also known to be a coffee addict, constantly drinking the beverage as if it was air.

This causes him to look like he's zipping across the room without moving his feet and speak at a rapid pace.

"You're going to sit next to me, Luffy." Weiss told him as if it was a fact. Luffy looked to her in confusion for the statement.

"Huh, why?" he asked.

"Because knowing you, you'll sleep through the lecture and then get into trouble. Unless you don't mind having more homework to do, which will cause a bigger headache for you." Weiss responded with a smug grin, aware that she made a strong point that Luffy can't deny. It worked seeing as Luffy was sweating at the thought of more mental stress.

"Oooh... that was kinda clever, Ice Queen." Yang said approvingly of the heiress' reasoning.

The class proceeded as normal with Oobleck giving a lecture on the Faunus Rights Revolution, also known as the Faunus War. Every so often, Weiss and Ruby would poke Luffy discreetly to keep him attentive and avoid the extra work Oobleck gives to slackers.

"Now while you all think this is all in the past, it's imperative to know that these uprisings are having repercussions in our modern times. Raise your hand if you've ever been subjugated or discriminated because of your faunus heritage." Oobleck instructed, with a few hands raised along with Velvet's in response.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful. Students, it is precisely this ignorance that leads to violence. I mean, I mean look what happened to the White Fang. Now can any of you tell me what many believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?" he questioned until he noticed Weiss' hand raised. "Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle." she answered simply. The name of the location caused a bit of confusion for Luffy.

"So is it a fort? Or is it a castle?" the boy asked dumbly. Yang stifled a giggle at the inquiry while Ruby and Weiss facepalmed.

"Who's to say, Mr. Branwen. In any case, Ms. Schnee is correct. Now who can tell me the advantage the faunus have over General Lagune's forces?" the doctor asks, waiting for a volunteer.

From where he's sitting, Cardin couldn't do anything to mess with Luffy or Velvet. So he opted for the person sitting in front of him, who happens to be the sleeping Jaune. He launches a paper football which landed on top of the blonde's head, waking him up with a jolt.

"Mr. Arc! I'm very excited to see that you'll be contributing to class. What is the answer?" Oobleck beckoned the student.

Jaune, for his part, was holding off on answering the question while he stares past Oobleck to find Pyrrha giving hand gestures. He sees her cupping her hands around her eyes, signaling in his opinion that the answer is...

"B-binoculars!" Jaune responded, but soon looked crestfallen for getting the wrong answer after hearing the students laugh at him.

Luffy was trying to think of the proper bond to refer to since he heard at some point that the battle took place at night. His eyes widened at the thought of Chopper due to the fact that he's not so different from the faunus.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin, what are your thoughts on this?" Oobleck reprimanded the boy before moving the inquiry to the bully behind him.

"Well, I do know that animals are easier to train than soldiers." Cardin commented, earning a look of disapproval from the doctor.

"Wow, you really are a blockhead, huh Shardin." Luffy gave his own comment, getting a glare from him as a result.

"Insults aside, are you saying that you have the answer Mr. Branwen?" Oobleck wondered while hiding the slight shock that the class idiot possibly knows.

"Yup! They can see in the dark, _Coffee Guy_." Luffy answered with a goofy grin while using Chopper's bond.

"Precisely! For someone that hardly pays attention in class, you actually got the answer for once. I seem to have underestimated you." Oobleck pointed out to the young man, ignoring the nickname.

The boy always had to give them a nickname to remember them by, even if they can be a bit demeaning sometimes.

"I have a reindeer man for a friend. He taught me that." Luffy informed, which the doctor nodded in acknowledgement. Reindeer do have such eyesight like any other deer.

The others sweatdropped at Oobleck's observation. They couldn't tell if it was an insult or a compliment.

"As for you two, please see me after class for additional readings." Oobleck ordered Jaune and Cardin, causing the blonde to groan.

"Oh yeah, sure. The moron goes home free while we get stuck here." Cardin complained.

"That may be true. But if he's the one that lacks intelligence, then what does that make you?" Blake countered, resulting in a few snickers from the audience. It's pretty much implying that Cardin is an even bigger idiot than Luffy.

That's... very insulting.

"Don't worry about me, guys. It's not like I'm part of the insult, too." a defeated Jaune said. First Luffy called him out on the bullhead before initiation, then Blake unknowingly made Jaune a part of it.

"Geez Blake, you captured three idiots in one sentence." Yang muttered with a sweatdrop. Cardin was the main target, Jaune got caught in the crossfire, and she acknowledged that Luffy was indeed an idiot.

When class ended, everyone except for Jaune went outside the doorway to wait for Jaune. Velvet gave her farewells before she decided to head out to find her team, feeling more secure with Cardin stuck in the classroom.

"You suck at charades Pyrrha." Yang said bluntly. To them, it honestly looked like she was holding binoculars.

"Well how would you tell someone 'night vision' without saying it!" Pyrrha defended. Luffy quickly drew a picture and showed it to them. There were two drawings side by side: what looks like an armored statue and an eye next to it.

"See? Night vision." Luffy said gesturing to the drawing. They adopted a look of thought until Ren caught on.

"Oh, you mean _knight_ vision." Ren figured out, noticing the use of homophones. It wouldn't matter which one Jaune said, it still sounded the same. Pyrrha's jaw dropped in disbelief of how easy Luffy made it seem, causing others to giggle at her reaction.

Second place in the Mistral Tournament, yet would've got last place in a game of charades. Speaking of which...

"Neh, Pyra?" the redhead turned to him. "Can you tell me more about this champion guy?" he asked, earning the curiosity of the others.

"Come to think of it... you never said anything about him Pyrrha. Maybe you can give us a description of what he looks like?" Ruby suggested. Pyrrha looks contemplative at the thought before agreeing. They still had to wait for Jaune, so what better way to pass the time.

"That can work. Who knows, Luffy might know him if he's really an incarnate." Pyrrha thought optimistically.

"Before you start, is he buff?" Yang wondered with a sly grin. Pyrrha recalled his appearance before sporting a light red tinge on her cheeks. Yang's grin grew upon seeing the response.

"I take that as a 'yes'. I'm already liking the guy." Yang stated with a dreamy expression. The others rolled their eyes at her obvious tastes.

"If anything were to stand out, it would be his green hair. Although, he's not the nicest looking person you'd run into. In fact, he looks very dangerous." the redhead listed off some of the person's traits. Luffy tilts his head in thought as a tiny bit of the description sinks in. Although it's not much to go on, seeing as he knows some people with green hair.

Hell, they just had a class with a green haired professor.

"That's not really helping. How does he fight?" he asked in hope of getting a better clue.

"Well... he is an astounding swordsman, but his style is very outlandish." Pyrrha commented, sending them into confusion.

"How so?" Weiss coaxed.

"He wields three swords at once." Pyrrha said plainly. That one sentence shocked Luffy seeing as there is only one person he knew that does that. Ruby and Yang share the same shock as well since they heard a bit about him.

"Z-Zoro!" Luffy exclaimed in a mix of shock and excitement. He wore a beaming smile upon knowing where his missing bond was. Zoro wasn't a hidden spirit within him, he had his own body and life.

"Wha-, you actually know him!? Is he a friend of yours?" Pyrrha demanded as she noticed Luffy's exuberance.

"Yeah, he's my first mate and the greatest swordsman in my world." he replied with the others looking at him in gaping shock.

'That kind of explains how I got destroyed in the tournament.' Pyrrha thought to herself. There were a lot of factors that gave him the advantage, namely experience and having an extra sword. Her polarity semblance can't really save her if she has to divide her attention to multiple weapons without over exerting herself.

Then there was that strong thirst for battle that spills out of him. She would be lying if she said that it wasn't intimidating.

"Oh man, I want to see him again. Maybe he'll know that I'm here and come to me, but then he would get lost and never find me." Luffy rambled on about how he could reunite with the swordsman, the huge grin never leaving his face.

"I wanna see those swords of his." Ruby desired in childish glee.

"Well, that answered that mystery." Ren said nonchalantly.

"It's too bad that he's no longer the greatest swordsman. That title belongs to Mihawk." Weiss noted.

"Mihawk is here too!?" Luffy stared at the heiress like a gaping fish.

"Of course he's here. Any aspiring huntsman has at least heard of his exploits. Many reports point out that he took out many foes with just a tiny knife, no bigger than your palm." Weiss said with a tone of admiration. They could tell that she's an avid fan of the man.

She blinked owlishly at Luffy for his previous statement, just registering the 'too' in the sentence.

"You mean to say that he's also an incarnate from your world?" Weiss questioned, to which Luffy nodded.

As they were getting over the shocking revelation, a blur flew past them followed by Jaune and Cardin. Yang kept herself close to Luffy in case the bully had any ideas. Even if he won't do anything, it's not gonna stop Yang's protectiveness.

Instead, she barely heard him mumbling under his breath.

Jaune, on the other hand, sighs sullenly at how things are turning out.

"Heh, guess he's just all bark and no bite." Yang said as she's gesturing to Cardin's lack of action. Though he might be scheming something else.

"Oooh, I got it... _Barkin_." Nora joked, getting a chuckle from Yang. Pyrrha contemplates on how to cheer her team leader up as she sees him down in the dumps.

"... I have an idea, Jaune. You guys go on ahead." Pyrrha said. The group stares in confusion before shrugging it off and going their separate ways.

* * *

"Can I talk to you Luffy?" Nora wondered.

They made it back to the hallway containing their dorm rooms as they decided to work on anything that needed doing. Which leads up to the point that Nora was looking a bit serious when she wanted to chat with Luffy.

"What's wrong Nora?" he asked in concern, noticing that she's not her bubbly self.

"I wanna cheer Jaune up, but I don't know how to. Ren brings up the mood with his amazing pancakes, Pyrrha looks like she found her own way of supporting him, but I don't have anything like that." she confessed. She tries to contribute, but so far nothing really worked effectively. Luffy tilts his head in thought as he figures out how she could help.

"Hmm... well he likes seeing Shardin get beaten up for once or the new names we came up with." Luffy listed off a few, giving the hammer wielder something to think about. A crazed grin graced her lips as she found an answer for herself.

"That's about the best I can do for him. But if it makes him a little happy, then it'll be worth it in the end. I'm going to need your help tomorrow, though." Nora informed him cheerfully. Luffy kept eye contact with her and could just tell what she has in mind, which brings him to mimic her grin.

"Sure thing! We're going to have a lot of fun, aren't we?" Luffy asked rhetorically. Nora nods her head vigorously, feeling excited for tomorrow. She turns back to enter her dorm room, leaving Luffy in the hallway.

Coincidentally, he spotted Pyrrha walking in his direction, looking dispirited.

"Oi, Pyra." he said in worry, earning the redhead's attention. He looks behind her to find no sign of Jaune. Pyrrha was happy when she took Jaune somewhere, now she came back without him and looks saddened.

"What happened with Jaune? Why do you look like you're about to cry?" he questioned her. Pyrrha was debating whether or not to tell him what was going on, but decided to not answer as she tried to walk past him.

Key word being tried.

She felt a hand grip her wrist before being pulled along by the straw hat boy.

"W-where are you taking me?" Pyrrha asked him as she tries to regain her balance.

"To where Jaune is. I'm sure that we can figure something out." Luffy thought with a blank expression, feeling the urge to solve the problem. Pyrrha doesn't do anything to resist or argue, feeling a bit of Luffy's optimism.

They reached the door leading to the rooftops, but Luffy sensed the presence of another person.

"Huh, what's Shardin doing there?" he wondered in confusion. Pyrrha was wide eyed at the news, wondering the same thing. They pressed their ears against the door to eavesdrop on what they're saying.

" _P-please, don't tell anyone._ " Jaune begged, leading Pyrrha into one possible scenario.

'He overheard us!" she thought in panic, only to be more frightened when she realized that Luffy is here too.

"Tell anyone what?" he muttered in confusion.

" _Come on, Jauney Boy. Now why would I rat out a friend like that._ " Cardin reassured, giving them the feeling that Jaune's going to get manipulated.

" _F-friend._ " Jaune stuttered in disbelief. They heard the sound of Jaune choking, most likely from Cardin putting him in a 'friendly' headlock.

" _That's right, we're friends now. And as long as you do as I say, we will stay friends. Speaking of which, think you can take care of the extra readings for me buddy?_ " Cardin requested. Although they couldn't see it, Jaune was close to despair when he realized that his dream was basically held at gunpoint.

" _That's what I thought. Don't worry though, your secret is safe with me._ " Cardin told Jaune before taking his leave.

Fortunately for Luffy and Pyrrha, Cardin climbed to the rooftop from his dorm's window. Luffy was about to open the door to confront Jaune, but Pyrrha held him back.

"What are you doing Pyrrha? Let go!" Luffy demanded.

"I've tried to help him too, but he just pushes me away saying that he needs to do this on his own." Pyrrha reasoned, not really shocked at the fact that Luffy got her name right.

She brought Jaune up to the rooftops to offer some help in privacy, but Jaune took it the wrong way. One thing lead to the next until Jaune confessed that he got into Beacon through fake transcripts, lying his way into the school.

He did it to become the hero he dreamed of, like the rest of his lineage. Despite the truth, Pyrrha still wanted to help. But Jaune, wanting to prove himself to the others, declined the offer rather harshly, hurting Pyrrha as a result.

"And you're okay with that?" he asked. Pyrrha's grip wavered after hearing that, giving Luffy the chance to break free.

"I don't know what secret he has, but so what? What I do know is that he's in trouble, and he needs us now more than ever." Luffy said before barging through the door, leaving Pyrrha to her thoughts. Jaune was startled from the intrusion and looks towards Luffy, noticing the serious gaze he has.

"W-what are you doing here Luffy?" Jaune inquired, the question was ignored. Luffy stretched his arm out and wrapped it around the blonde.

" _We_ are gonna help you!" Luffy said in a harsh tone. He won't idly abandon a friend in need, and it kind of pissed him off how Jaune is trying to do it alone.

Going alone doesn't get you far in life, that much he knows through experience.

Jaune couldn't get a word in edgewise as he was dragged around by Luffy with Pyrrha in tow.

The ruckus caused by Luffy as he marched his way into his room with the two woke up Ruby and the others. One by one, they filed into his room, wondering what was going on.

"You better have a very good reason for that loud racket." Weiss said in irritation. The others shared a bit of that irritation, but the sisters knew something was up when they spotted Jaune and Pyrrha sitting on the bed looking down in shame along with an upset Luffy.

"D-did you tell him?" Jaune whispered to Pyrrha, which she replied by shaking her head.

"Tell him wha-" Yang was about to ask, but was abruptly cut off.

"No!" Luffy shouted, startling the others.

"I don't know what this secret is, and I don't give a damn. But like I told Pyrrha, he's in a tight spot." Luffy said in a stern tone.

"Look guys, I'm tired of being some lovable goof, I want to do this on my own so I don't end up as some third wheel. I just... want to be a hero like my forefathers." Jaune ranted to them, earning a dull look from Ruby.

The young leader brought her fist down on her fellow leader, while Luffy popped Pyrrha on the noggin. The rest of the group sweatdropped at the action.

"Ow, what was that for!?" Jaune whined as he rubbed his sore head. Both cousins crossed their arms, as if they were scolding them.

"For being an idiot." Ruby said flatly.

"Okay, what about Pyrrha?" Jaune asked as he gestured to the girl rubbing the lump on her head.

"For _letting_ you be the idiot, which makes her an idiot too." Luffy said, earning a flinch from the redhead.

"Jaune... it's not all just about you anymore. You have a team to lead, and so do I. What you're doing is being selfish, putting yourself before others. That's not what a hero does."

"Ruby's right. Lets say that there is this huge chunk of meat. Heroes would share the meat with the others. But I don't want to be one myself because I want all the meat." Luffy explained.

"That's your definition of a hero, and what does this have to with anything!" Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss yelled incredulously.

"Yeah, I don't wanna share the cookies, I want all of them." Ruby said, agreeing to Luffy's definition.

"All the syrup." Nora cheered, getting an eye roll from Ren

"All the salmon." Blake followed, surprising a few. Guess she loved those salmon sandwiches Luffy made earlier.

"All the booze... unless there's a hot guy involved." Yang said with a small condition. Everyone quirked a brow at the blonde, making a mental note of her like for alcohol.

"You guys are ridiculous." Weiss groaned.

"I guess what we're trying to say is that to be a hero means to be completely selfless." Ruby elaborated.

"It's fine that you want to solve your own problems. But at a time like this, you consult your team." Weiss lectured, applying what she had to learn in initiation.

Silence filled the air as Jaune was left in thought.

He brushed off Pyrrha out of arrogance when she was only trying to help. Even though Luffy fought the Berserker Kong on his own, he wasn't so cocky about it. He did it for the sake of others, putting his life on the frontlines.

The Grimm would've been too much for them, even together. Luffy knew the stakes were high, so he just refused to lose.

Jaune doesn't have that sort of confidence. He's aware of how weak he is, yet he fails to lean on others because of some stupid macho pride.

"I'm really sorry." Jaune apologized, hardening his grip on his knees. Luffy continues to stare at him, but with a small grin.

"I was being a fool... and a jerk. You guys were just trying to pick me back up, but I just shoved that kindness away." Jaune admitted. He felt a hand on his shoulder, turning his head to see his partner giving him a comforting smile.

"It's fine, as long as you've realized your mistake." she said.

"The problem still stands. What are we going to do about Cardin?" Blake questioned.

"I'm sure we can figure something out, just not right this moment. We need to rest up." Yang suggested before yawning.

That was everyone's cue to return to bed.

"Thanks Luffy, for fixing things up. " Jaune said in gratitude as he was at the doorway.

"Don't mention it. When we're stuck, we just need some friends to push us forward. That will always be a fact." Luffy told him with his toothy grin. The door closes, leaving only the raven haired boy. He hops onto the bed topless once more before immediately going to sleep.

He has one hell of a day tomorrow, considering that Nora is going to bring in some fun.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Wonder what Nora has in mind?**

 **Please leave reviews and votes for feedback.**


	18. Dynamic Insanity

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 18**

The group are in attendance in professor Goodwitch's sparring class. Luffy and Nora are off to the side, talking about something they couldn't hear. The rest of the group were left in confusion as to what they were planning to do today.

"Come on, you two. Can you at least tell us what this is about?" Yang asked, feeling very anxious. The insane duo just showed a beaming smile to her.

"Nope, not yet." was all they said in unison.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to find out very soon." Ren speculated, seeing as he could _feel_ the mischief in their eyes.

"Either way, we can say that we're proud of you Jaune." Ruby cheered the blonde, who is seen shaking like a leaf. What he did this morning was very scary and bold, but at least he didn't lose his nerves _while_ it was going on.

* * *

 _"So Jauney Boy, did you do the extra readings Oobleck gave us?" Cardin asked, staring down at the boy. They were in a secluded hallway so they can act on their deal._

 _"Sorry Cardin. I was only able to do the one for myself because I'm not doing any of your dirty work." Jaune told him, feeling very nervous on the inside. He knows that Luffy and the others are nearby to back him up in case things go wrong, but also for moral support._

 _"Jaune, I don't think you understand the situation you're in." Cardin warned with a frown. He thought he had him on a leash, but now it looks like he needs a reminder of what's a stake._

 _"It doesn't matter anymore. You can tell anyone you want, but I won't drag my team down because of it. They're my first priority, while I'm the last. There's no point in my dream if I lose my friends in the end." Jaune said with determination, filling the bully with anger. Cardin curled his fingers into a fist. But before he could throw a punch, he felt a chill go down his spine._

 _"Oh! There you are Jaune. Come on, Weiss is gonna get mad at us for being late." Luffy said as he entered the scene with a grin. He stretched his arm to grab the boy and pulled him over. Jaune was flailing his arms comically as he was forced to retreat from the angered Cardin._

 _Once Jaune recovered from the stunt, he was in the face of his team along with Ruby's._

 _"Shishishi, well said. You stood up for yourself and knew what was more important, and that's what matters." Luffy congratulated, earning a smile from the blonde._

 _"Yes yes, Jaune did a good job. Now can we get a move on?" Weiss said impatiently. Luffy wasn't kidding when he said they were about to be tardy._

 _"Alright! Luffy, give us a rocket." Ruby signaled. Everyone except Yang and Nora were sweating bullets at the signal as Luffy rounded up the entire group with one arm and reached up to a beam near the ceiling with the other._

 _" **Gomu Gomu no Rocket!** "_

* * *

"I don't care what everyone thinks, I love being a part of the rocket." Yang said with Ruby and Nora nodding in agreement, resulting in incredulous stares. That technique was the embodiment of thrill and fun itself.

"Hey, at least we're on time. Right, Weiss?" Ruby said with optimism before turning to her partner. The heiress was shaking as she curled up comically crying.

"That was the scariest near-death experience I've ever had. I seriously thought we were going to die." Weiss whimpered with Blake comforting her.

"I don't think we're the only ones suffering though." Pyrrha said as she gestured to Glynda who is fixing the hole in the ceiling. They can see the deep scowl on her face as she was using her semblance to repair the damage.

After she finished her work, she turned her attention to the students in preparation for the next spar.

"Before we begin, I would like to warn a certain student to use the door like any other proper student would." Glynda started as she stared accusingly at Luffy with narrowed eyes, earning a few giggles from the crowd.

"Huh, but they crashed through the ceiling with me." Luffy argued while pointing at his friends.

"I'm sure that they were dragged into it against their will." the professor countered, to which Luffy pouted.

'That's a load of bull.' Weiss thought as she glared at Ruby. Ruby was the one that thought it would be a great idea to use the technique, so technically it wasn't really against everyone's will. Ruby realizes this and rubs her head sheepishly.

"Moving on, do I have any willing participants?" Glynda hurried along, only to spot Nora's hand raised. "Ms. Valkyrie?"

"I'd like to team up with Luffy against team CRDL." Nora requested, getting a look of shock from everyone except Luffy. Glynda quirked a brow at the idea.

A two versus four line up... that would be the first. And if Luffy is going to work with other teams on missions, he needs to adapt with any allies he's with.

Cardin scoffed as he and his team left the stands.

"Hold onto this for me." Luffy said as he handed his hat to Ruby.

The duo soon left to prepare for the upcoming battle.

"I guess he doesn't want to take the chance that Cardin and his cronies will try to hit his hat, huh." Yang said, getting a nod from Ruby as she places the straw hat on her head.

"Still though, why would Nora challenge his team with only Luffy to back her up?" Pyrrha wondered inquisitively.

"She's killing two birds with one stone. Nora wants to do something crazy with Luffy, as well as take part in brightening Jaune's mood." Ren told them, clearly understanding his friend. Ever since the semester started, their craziness felt very tamed compared to groups' projections.

Perhaps the two couldn't find the best time to do such things, what with their tight schedule between school and training.

"W-wait, she's doing this because I was depressed?" Jaune asked with wide eyes. He didn't even realize that she was a bit stressed out for her lack of presence on the team.

Despite what many would think, Nora does take her role as a teammate seriously. But just like Luffy, her actions don't portray it clearly.

Jaune grimaced at the thought of being the cause of it, berating himself to get his act together.

Weiss was sitting off to the side as she saw Jaune's expression. Ruby was right, if one person is affected the rest will suffer along with them. The group were broken out of their thoughts by a familiar voice.

"There you guys are!" Velvet said in an upbeat tone upon seeing her new friends. They turn to her and spot three others following behind her.

"Hey Velv, didn't think you could _hop_ over here. Don't you have a different class?" Yang punned before wondering about their presence curiously, causing others to groan at her pun.

"I see you have a horrible pun to make. To answer your question, our class doesn't come until later in the day and my team wanted to meet you guys... where's Luffy and Nora?" Velvet explained as she scanned the place for the missing two.

"They're preparing for their match against Cardin's team. Would you mind introducing yourselves to pass the time?" Weiss suggested to Velvet's teammates.

"We might as well. The names Coco Adel, and I'm the leader of the team. These two are Yatsu and Fox." Coco introduced herself before pointing to the two males of the team, who gave them a nod in greeting. Together, they make team CFVY (Coffee).

She stands at six feet with her heels on with fair skin. She also has short dark brown hair and matching eyes, with one wavy lock on the side that transitions to caramel. While she may be in her school uniform like the others, Coco's accessories consist of a dark brown beret, black wired-rimmed aviator sunglasses, black gloves, and a bracelet with black roses.

Yatsuhashi, or Yatsu for short, is a young man with tanned skin that stands at an incredible height of seven feet with shaved black hair and eyes. He doesn't seem to be sporting any additional accessories or alterations to his uniform.

Fox, who is two inches taller than Coco, has dark skin with messy copper hair that has a fringe and cowlick. His eyes are purely white, showing that he's blind. The sleeves to his uniform were rolled up slightly to show some of the scars that littered his arms, with another scar on his lips.

As soon as the rest of the introductions were out of the way, the insane duo made their way to the side of the arena along with team CRDL on the other side. Although they see something off with Luffy's attire.

He still wears his shorts, sash, and sandals, but is currently topless with a black afro wig. Mixed reactions filled the entire room as they took in his appearance.

"Aw yeah! Afro Luffy is back!" Yang cheered with a fist pump, with Jaune and Coco by her side with sparkles surrounding them.

"I may be a fashionista, but that's too funky for words to describe. I live with no regrets." Coco said in awe with the blondes nodding in agreement.

"I've never said this out loud, but...*sniff* I'm so proud of you Luffy!" Jaune cried out with tears streaming down his face. They have just witnessed the moment when a boy becomes a man.

"You've got to be kidding me. Ruby, can't you do something about this?" Weiss turned to her partner hopefully, but received no immediate response. This was too embarrassing for her to even watch.

"I'm sorry, Weiss... but you can't deny the power of the afro." Ruby said as she turned her starry eyes to Weiss. The heiress facepalmed at the girl's acceptance to the new Luffy. Slowly but surely, everyone was losing their brain cells over his antics.

"I honestly have nothing to comment on this." Ren said with dull eyes with Fox and Yatsu supporting his statement. That was one hell of a first impression for the two.

"I guess dignity doesn't exist in his dictionary." Pyrrha commented with a sweatdrop.

"Looks that way." Velvet agreed.

"Why is he not wearing a shirt?" Blake asked in exasperation, feeling more distracted by the shirtless part rather than his afro. Yang bears a cheeky grin at her question.

"On the plus side, you get an eyeful of his abs." Yang teased, causing Blake to blush.

He may be her cousin, but Yang does pay attention to some features that could draw in the female populace. The same could be said when it comes to Ruby's looks and charms, even if Ruby is very modest about it.

Strangely enough, the cheers from the audience drowned out the laughter from some other individuals. Glynda's eye twitched in irritation at the lack of seriousness, internally wondering where they got the afro.

"Remember the plan Luffy. No offensive Armament, we're trying to embarrass them to the point that they're seen as a bunch of pushovers. Show them the secrets of the afro." Nora whispered to her temporary partner, trying to sound like a proper coach.

"You got it." Luffy confirmed in a tone that fits his attire. It's as if he switched his persona for the time being.

"We're seriously fighting these weirdos?" Russel wondered incredulously. The duo heard him and stared for a few seconds.

"Blasphemy!" they shouted at him, leaving Russel in confusion until he realized what they were referring to.

Luffy is wearing an afro, but Russel green hair is formed into a mohawk.

"If you're done with the sideshow, then you can start the fight whenever you wish." Glynda proceeded with the spar.

This signaled Nora to take out one of the lightning pellets that she borrowed from Luffy. She infused her Aura into it as it started letting out a strong electrical current in her hand. The dust pellet faded to nothing as she absorbed all of the electricity into herself, using it for her semblance.

Using the extra strength in her legs, she jumped high in the air with Luffy meeting her with his own jump. Team CRDL were on guard for whatever the aerial duo had in mind.

" **Third Gear** "

Luffy bit into his thumb and inflated his arm into colossal proportions, shocking everyone present except for team RWBY and the rest of JNPR. He moved the air in his arm towards his torso, making him into a huge rubber ball.

" **Gomu Gomu no...** " he started off as Nora lifted her hammer above her head with a crazed grin, aiming for the center of the arena.

" **Giant Wrecking Ball!** " Nora finished their team attack name as she slammed his enlarged body with her weapon. Luffy started his quick descent to the ground, much like a meteor to the perspective of the others. However, it wasn't planned to hit anyone.

They were utilizing it as a fear factor considering its size. It also shows that they could've ended the match immediately if the whole team was caught in it.

As soon as he made contact, the entire room shook violently as the audience lost balance. Glynda cleared the area thankfully, but Cardin's team were knocked off their feet as the shockwave sent them skyward. Gravity took effect as they fell back down unceremoniously.

'Are they mad!? That attack can potentially kill someone!' Glynda thought in a fearful tone. Even with Aura, if anyone was caught under that, they would be nothing but a mangled mess on the floor. Luckily, those two had no such intentions.

The four victims managed to stand back up and regain their footing.

"What was that all about? That didn't even hit us." Cardin stated. They soon heard the sounds of screaming from within the dust cloud, catching a short glimpse of a flying object until it returned to the ground.

"Well it's a good thing I didn't hit you. That would've seriously hurt." came the familiar high pitched voice that came from the crash site. The smoke cleared from the wide crater, revealing Chibi Luffy. Oddly enough, his afro shrunk to fit his head.

A bout of laughter was met as the spectators saw his drawback take place.

"What the hell is going on!? How did he shrink like that!?" Coco flipped out as she tried to comprehend what happened. Her team was also left speechless at the events.

"Why did he use Third Gear right from the start?" Weiss wondered in exasperation. It was a bit impractical to use a technique that has a drawback at the start of the fight.

"He still looks adorable, even with the afro." Blake muttered under her breath. His chibi form will always look stupid, but she couldn't deny the cuteness.

Unfortunately for her, someone in their group happens to have enhanced hearing.

"Adorable? I guess he does look that way Blake." Velvet agreed, causing the others to stare at the raven haired girl. Blake stiffened at the feeling of having their gaze on top of her.

"Aww, Blakey thinks that Chibi Luffy looks cute." Yang cooed, making Blake blush furiously.

"S-so what if I do?" Blake said as she glared at Yang, though it proves ineffective with the combination of her blush.

"Yipe!" Luffy panicked, shutting down their current conversation. Team CRDL were chasing Luffy around the arena while he was in his vulnerable state. Dove was interrupted by a pink and orange blur that shoulder charged him, sending him away from the team.

Through all the times she used her semblance, she never put in the thought of using it on her legs. Nora enjoys this new idea as she notices the sharp increase in speed due to the extra leg strength. However, she can only dash at one direction like that as well as have a lack of control, seeing as she takes one strong leap.

Chibi Luffy climbed onto the back of her head, resting his head on top of hers. This will make guarding him easier while the cooldown persists.

"Duck!" Luffy ordered, assisting Nora with his Observation Haki. Nora complied and dodged a swing from Sky's halberd from behind. However, it cleaved right through Luffy's afro, now torn apart beyond repair.

"Nooo! The afro got destroyed!" Luffy, Nora, and the majority of the audience cried in despair.

In an attempt to avenge the death of their funkiness, a blast ignited from her hammer, causing her to spin and trip the attacker with the shaft of her weapon.

Nora stood back up, only to be put on the defensive by Russel's swift daggers. The mohawk man stepped to the side as Cardin gave an overhead swing. At this time, Luffy grew back to normal size.

"Luffy, defense!" Nora signaled, earning a grin from him. While still perched on her shoulders, Luffy stretched his arms and grabbed hold of Magnhild.

" **Buso Koka** "

His arms adopted the familiar black tone before the same was done to the warhammer. Cardin's mace landed on her weapon, but he immediately recoiled from the heightened defenses.

Luffy hopped off of Nora while he deactivated the Armament and landed behind Russel. He had a look of mischief as he wrapped all four of his limbs around Russel's own.

" **Gomu Gomu no Mikata Robo** ( _Ally Robo_ )"

"Hey, let go of me!" Russel demanded as he struggled against his restraints, but to no avail. Luffy proceeded to force his legs to walk and swing his arms in circles while imitating the sound of a robot moving. Russel blushed in embarrassment as he heard boisterous laughing from the audience.

"Hang in there, Russel. I'll get him off." Dove told him as he approached the two.

" **Mikata Robo Slice** "

Luffy made his victim swing his dagger at his own ally, but Dove blocked the sluggish attack. Russel may not be able to break out of his grip, but he could at least pull himself back to not hurt his comrade.

" **Mikata Robo Kick** "

While keeping Dove in place, Russel's leg swung up against his will. His foot nailed him in the family jewels, causing the onlookers to wince in sympathy. Dove fell to the ground holding his groin as he whimpered like a puppy.

"I'm so sorry! W-wait a sec, why am I even apologizing?" Russel thought in confusion. It wasn't even his fault.

"Because it was your leg." Luffy answered simply.

"You're the one that made me do it!" he argued back. Luffy was in the middle of thinking on what to do next until he heard a shout.

"Hey Luffy! Could you finish that up, we're wasting too much time!?" Nora asked while she was fending off both Cardin and Sky. Luffy gives her a thumbs up, agreeing to regroup with her.

Nora was managing to hold two people back by using the extra strength in her arms to twirl her hammer about, the hammerhead constantly knocking many attacks back. Cardin was about to smash the ground in front of her, which caused a part of Nora's instincts to tell her to clear the way. Her instincts were spot on as she leaped high in the air to avoid a trail of explosions.

"Ehh! Shardin's mace exploded, just like that bomb on a stick." Luffy said, failing to recall the opponent that wielded that sort of weapon. Although he does remember getting hit by the 'bomb on a stick' so many times in one fight.

He has most of the details from the battle down to memory, but he couldn't for the life of him remember the bad guy's name. One of the most important things worth noting was that it was the place where he first met Sanji.

Luffy had a smile on his face as he activated his chef bond, feeling the need to settle his end with only kicks. He releases his hold on Russel, allowing the dagger wielder to face him.

Russel unleashed a flurry of attacks upon him, but Luffy was smoothly evading each swipe of his daggers, irritating Russel even further. He tries to trip the boy with a leg sweep, only to take a kick after Luffy hopped over it. As he got back up, Luffy was already upon him with his leg raised.

" **Collier** ( _Neck_ )"

He started off as he landed a blow to the jugular, slamming his foe's head into the ground. Russel rolls over and struggles to get up, but Luffy wasn't gonna give him the chance.

" **Epaule** ( _Shoulder_ )"

Luffy continued his assault as he delivered a downward kick to his shoulder blade, keeping him down. Glynda notices the change in fighting style as she spotted the symbol on his hand.

'So he's using his chef's fighting skills. From what I see, he's refraining from using his hands to hit his opponents. Instead, it's focused on only kicking them.' Glynda observed while she witnessed Russel get up into a kneeling position. But he seems to be in a lot of pain from just two of his kicks, showing how accurately placed they were.

" **Cotelette** ( _Rib_ )"

Luffy drops to a one-handed handstand and gives a hard kick in the ribs from behind, sending him upward.

" **Selle** ( _Lower Back_ )"

He spins in the other direction while in his handstand to kick his lower back, giving Russel slightly more height.

" **Poitrine** ( _Chest_ )"

Luffy quickly got up and launched a straight kick, forcing Russel back down.

" **Gigot** ( _Legs_ )"

A leg sweep nailed him in the knee caps, sending the mohawk guy several feet away.

The spectators were looking on in shock of the boy's relentless combo. Russel was helpless as each and every kick made solid contact. His only saving grace was the lack of Armament and the piercing effect that comes with it. By some miracle, he was still able to slowly stand back up despite the damage. Even though his vision is blurry and his consciousness is failing, he can make out an image of Luffy spinning towards him.

" **Mouton Shot** ( _Sheep Shot_ )" Luffy finishes his opponent off by putting all his strength into his final kick and hitting Russel square in the face. Now completely unconscious, Russel was sent flying out of the ring and through the wall, earning wide eyed looks from the audience.

"*whistle* That was one hell of a kick he took. I can tell he's going to feel that for a few days." Coco commented, impressed at the small boy's strength. Yang had a few puns in store, but was stopped by the glares of her teammates.

"Don't even think about it." Ruby warned.

"If you make a pun that includes the word 'kick' in it..." Weiss started off, under the likely assumption of what Yang was possibly going to say.

"Then we'll kick your ass." Blake finished the threat. Yang wore a shit eating grin at them.

Challenge accepted.

"Come on guys, you gotta admit that he got a _kick_ out of that." Yang punned. She was surprised when three fists connected to her stomach simultaneously, causing to bend forward and take another three to the noggin. Two out of three lumps sprouted on her head, in which Ruby pouted at. Neither of them were from her.

Teams CFVY and JPR sweatdropped at the interactions.

"Guilty!" came Nora's shout, bringing everyone's attention to her.

After a long and tedious battle, Nora finally got the opening against Sky and smashed him with her hammer. He was sent clear out of the ring and had his rear pinned to the wall.

"The punishment for destroying our funk has been delivered in full!" Nora cheered with a grin. Luffy had his back turned from the recovering Dove and cheered along with her. Nora glanced at Cardin and saw that he was about to send another wave of explosions at her.

"You don't wanna do that." the duo said in unison. Dove took this opportunity and used the gun portion of his weapon to shoot Luffy. The raven haired teen simply tilted his head for the bullet to whiz by, shocking many people. One person in particular was in deep thought about a possibility.

'Was he... using the Color of Observation like my mentor?' Fox thought to himself. Even if he's blind, he could still sense things through other means.

Cardin launched the trail of blasts at the two, seeing as they're perfectly aligned. Nora dived out of the way while Luffy jumped over the blast radius, but Dove was blow out of the ring due to friendly fire.

"Whew, that was kinda close. Hey Luffy, you set him up then I'll bring him down." Nora told him, to which he grinned in acknowledgement.

Nora switched to her grenade launcher and gave suppressive fire to make sure Cardin doesn't get too close. Cardin darted around the arena, evading the grenades until she needed to reload. That small opening came and he charged at the girl, but was forced to block a punch from Luffy.

"You are such an annoying freak!" he roared at Luffy as he lunged at him. Luffy bent back into a handstand to dodge the swing, only to spring upward towards Cardin.

" **Bouquetiere Shot** ( _Mixed Vegetables Shot_ )"

Both of Luffy's feet met Cardin's chin as the taller teen was sent skyward.

" **Gomu Gomu no Snake Shot** "

Luffy stretches his arm and latches onto Cardin's mace wielding arm. The vice grip caused enough pain for Cardin to release his weapon. The boy started to sprint around the arena in circles, leaving the others in confusion at the action.

" **Gomu Gomu no Kite** "

The elastic arm stretched farther as he ran around, giving Cardin more height and airtime. This persisted for a while until Cardin was near the ceiling.

"It's ready Nora." Luffy called out to his insane partner. Nora complied as she ran towards Luffy and hopped on his arm. She dashed along the long appendage like a tight rope, hammer at the ready.

Cardin widened his eyes in fear of what was about to happen. Nora reached the peak and held her hammer up while laughing like a maniac.

"BOOP!" Nora shouted as her overhead swing made impact on Cardin's chest, his eyes rolled back in overwhelming pain. The two of them plummeted to the ground, creating a large dust cloud upon landing.

Three of the four ended up out of the ring, while the last nearly lost all of his Aura from that single attack. The insane duo won the match. Cheers were met as Nora walked out of the dust cloud with a wide grin. The two gave each other a high five for their victory before they turned to the ruined afro to mourn for their loss.

Glynda sighed at the bizarre events that took place before walking up to Luffy with a scowl.

"Before you two decide to leave, I'm only going to warn you once. Don't ever use that 'Third Gear' again. Should you do so, you will be having some detention for such reckless actions." the professor warned in a harsh tone. That was way too dangerous for anyone's comfort, given its lethality.

Luffy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at the warning, giving small apologies.

The three spectating teams were giving their own thoughts on how the match went.

"That was actually fun to watch. Maybe it's because Cardin and his team were getting their just desserts." Blake commented.

"Nah, I think you liked it because Luffy was showing off his glistening body." Yang teased, earning an eye twitch from her partner.

"Those two didn't really take them seriously." Weiss said. This was more like playing around like a bunch of kids. She's kind of grateful that Luffy put some spirit into their match on the first day.

"After seeing this match, it makes me want to make some sort of combo with Luffy." Pyrrha said with a small smile. If it was that easy to work with Luffy, she's confident that there would be a way for her to bond with others.

Jaune remained silent, but he had a smile on his face at how Nora was giving her all to keep everyone positive.

"Something tells me that was only the tip of the iceberg." Ren guessed. There was so much that they wanted to do, but they were limited due to their opponents.

Ruby was deep in thought about the development of earning more friends in the form of team CFVY. If they were going to make more friends from now on, she might as well stop hiding things from them and make sure that there are no trust issues.

"Hey Velvet." the rabbit faunus turned to the redhead in curiosity. "I want to tell you guys something, so can we meet at Luffy's dorm?" Ruby asked.

"S-sure Ruby, but what is this about?" Velvet wondered as she peered into the pair of silver eyes. She could tell this was weighing heavily on Ruby's mind.

"Just something that we should've told you before, but I want you and your team to know." Ruby explained vaguely.

"That can benefit us both. I was wondering about something as well." Fox informed Ruby, surprising the girl as well as his team.

They each gave their silent agreement to have this conversation later.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

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	19. Talking Over Coffee

**As of now, this story has over 300 favorites and followers. I want to thank you all for the support and feedback that is given to my first story.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 19**

Coco could admit that she and her team have been involved in some crazy things as second year students. She lost count of the number of missions that ended up as a bigger mess than it already was.

But nothing prepared them for _this_ kind of crazy.

She was busy rubbing her temples with her index fingers, trying to figure out a response for what she just heard.

After reuniting with Ruby and the others, everyone got comfortable in Luffy's spacious dorm as the younger team leader explained just about all the important bits about Luffy's prior life.

Everything that has already been explained to JNPR as well as the likelihood of other incarnates besides Luffy.

"You do know that what you said sounds insane, right?" Coco noted to Ruby, who stared at the older girl with a straight face as they sat across from each other.

'No surprise there.' The group thought in unison with a deadpanned tone. What else would they expect from someone that was in the same boat as them at one point.

Silence was met as teams RWBY and JNPR were waiting for team CFVY's response. Luffy was off to the side, eating some cooked meat after borrowing Ren's griddle.

Yatsu was deep in thought with his eyes closed, wondering what to make of this reveal. Velvet was finding it really hard to believe. But if Ruby was looking very serious and would go so far as to make sure that no one else hears them, then it may just be the truth. The blind man however...

"That actually makes sense, now that I think about it." Fox conceded with his own reasons.

To him, it would explain the reason why his mentor seemed like the only one that knows Haki, showing that it was never put into practice by someone from Remnant.

Everyone was honestly surprised that the blind huntsman accepted such a farfetched story.

"You seem to be taking this in stride. Care to explain why?" Yatsu stared quizzically at Fox, speaking for the first time since they met Ruby and the gang.

"Because I learned Observation Haki from my mentor, once upon a time." Fox explained, shocking his own team with the fact that he held back a secret from them.

"Really? Who taught you?" Luffy asked as he continued to devour what would be his snack, getting a scowl from Weiss for lack of manners.

"Well, he never really told me his real name. I do know he goes by the name Fujitora. When I was having trouble with my blindness like he once was, he came to me and offered to train me on how to sense the world around myself more clearly. While I was only taught Observation Haki, he did inform me of the other types." Fox explained.

While it would've been helpful to learn Armament, Observation was in a more dire need and there wasn't enough time to focus on the other Haki type.

Luffy tilted his head in thought as he tried to remember a person by that name. His eyes widened as he recalled an opponent that was blind.

"Shishishi, yeah I know him. He was an Admiral, but I kind of like him. He had this weird devil fruit that made things lighter and heavier too." Luffy shared with the rest of them. Weiss tried to make sense of the devil fruit that Luffy described until she found an answer.

"Lighter and heavier? Luffy, he was controlling the force of gravity! I wouldn't be surprised if he can alter its direction." Weiss mused, earning frightened looks from the others.

While some of the devil fruits sound harmless at first glance like being a rubberman, controlling a natural force itself is rather frightening from the start.

"At least he sounds like a really cool guy, given Luffy likes him." Jaune said optimistically, noting Luffy's good judge of character.

"He is a very wise man, to be sure. By the way, I'm sure you realized something special about Observation Haki at this point, right Luffy?" Fox said.

"Oh, you're talking about how we can see how much Aura anyone has left." Luffy pointed out.

"So you don't need to use your scroll to check our Aura levels? That's pretty efficient." Blake commented with intrigue. It's not like you have the time in the middle of a battle to grab your scroll and assess your Aura after all.

"Couldn't you have used that to find out much Aura each of your crew have?" Ren theorized with a dull look. If it's true that you can actually see someone's Aura levels through that method, then it can apply to his crew as well.

"... I guess I could've done that, huh." Luffy said blankly, causing Ren to sweatdrop.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"Apparently, since his crew were once alive, they also have their own Aura. They're all chained together along with Luffy's to make a huge amount of Aura, hence why his Aura comes in multiple colors. He was left thinking that the compound Aura was just his." Ren explained based on what the two learned earlier.

The two sisters had a look of understanding, as they were also curious as to why his Aura was so peculiar compared to others.

"I'm getting lost here." Velvet said, not understanding all this talk of his crewmates and what they have to do with his Aura.

"My crew are still with me Velvet. They're just inside me, and my semblance lets me learn what they know. My Aura looks like a rainbow since my crews' Auras are a part of my own. It's like having so many different types of meat on one plate." Luffy simplified as best he could.

Velvet could only sweatdrop at how he turned back to food for the explanation.

"A rainbow? More like an Aur _or_ a." Yang muttered.

"Before we get anymore sidetracked, can I ask two questions?" Coco requested.

"You already asked one, but go ahead." Fox joked with a smirk. Coco gave him a dull look for the joke before moving on.

"Fox, why didn't you tell us about this Haki stuff?" Coco asked, a little hurt that her teammate was keeping something from them.

It was almost saying that he didn't trust them enough.

"Haki never made the history books, it's not even considered a myth or legend. Since there were no records of it being used, anyone would deny its existence because Aura would take its place in our history." Fox explained.

Coco lets out a heavy sigh, understanding his point. Aura has become a staple in the life of a huntsman, making them believe that Aura is the only thing needed. Their reliance on said energy has hindered them from learning about Haki's existence.

"And all it takes is one good ass whooping from a Haki user to make them see it. Is that everything that you're hiding?" Coco inquired Fox suspiciously.

"I can assure you that there is nothing else hidden from you guys, although I'm sorry for doing so." Fox apologized. A sigh escaped Ruby's lips, catching team CFVY's attention.

The others were just waiting for their team chat to resolve itself, not wanting to interfere with their problems.

"I wanted to let you guys in about all of this, but I didn't think that it would make you doubt each other because of it. I'm sorry." Ruby said. Her own discussion caused another team's affinity to slide out of place, making her feel guilty for it.

"It's okay. Speaking of which, why tell us this if you had an idea of how we'd react?" Coco inquired. Ruby fidgetted a little bit, thinking of how to answer.

"W-well, I wanted all of us to be friends, seeing as you guys might hang around with us more often. I just don't want to hide anything from you guys." Ruby told her.

What happened between Fox and his team was enough evidence to prove what could transpire if she didn't tell them. To be quite honest, she should've done this back in Signal.

Blake had a saddened expression as Ruby mentioned being friends by not hiding anything. It hurts knowing that she hasn't been completely honest to them about her faunus heritage and past affiliation.

"And if we were to inform an ill-willed incarnate about Luffy?" Yatsu questioned. He was just gauging her reaction as a test, seeing as he can't possibly know any others.

"Then I'll know who my _real_ friends are." Ruby quickly answered in a serious expression. As Luffy once told her, real friends don't stab each other in the back.

Yatsu couldn't help but smile at her answer. She thought long and hard, all the while thinking of what to do if the worst case scenario were to happen. She's not at all worried about the incarnate, but the amount of faith she can have in others.

By the looks of her team, they seem to comply to her judgement.

"I can see why they made you the team leader." was all he said, earning a grin from Ruby. Silence permeated the room as they didn't know what else to talk about.

"So uhhh... lets talk about your crew, Luffy. I'd rather leave on a high note than... this." Jaune suggested awkwardly. Luffy tilted his head in contemplation, realizing that he never told them much about his friends.

"I can go with something to brighten the mood right now. Fox already has proof that it's true, so I can't say that it's silly nonsense." Coco said, unable to argue against what she was told.

Even if she was very skeptical about the entire thing, her mind wasn't coming up with any valid points to counter with. Both the revelation that her teammate has a type of Haki and witnessing the fight Luffy took part in this day points to some outside influence.

An outside influence that isn't of Remnant.

"Although, this is still too much to take in. I mean, someone like Luffy being a pirate is a bit of a stretch." Velvet said, getting a giggle from Yang.

"Good one Velv." Yang approved of the inadvertent pun. Velvet groaned after she realized her own pun.

She can only hope that the terrible puns don't rub off on her.

"Anyway, what's Sanji like?" Nora asked with uncontained curiosity. Luffy grinned at the thought of being able to tell them as much about the crew as he wants. It helps assure him that they won't be forgotten.

"He's a really awesome chef, the best I've ever known. But he acts really funny around girls." Luffy gave a short description of Sanji. Aside from the sisters, the others quirked a brow at the second bit.

"How does he act around them?" Pyrrha asked, though she has an inkling of an idea. Although, it begs to question why Luffy sounded like he didn't have a clue as to why. As if reading her thoughts, Luffy continued.

"When he's around Nami or Robin, he always goes like 'Nami-swan!' or 'Robin-chwan!'. I don't understand why he does it, but it's funny." Luffy said as he imitated the leg tornado and heart filled eyes that Sanji does in the face of women.

"And I'm guessing he doesn't care about the guys much, right." Ren mused, now having a clear understanding of Sanji's character.

"Yup!" Luffy replied with a grin.

'What a flirt.' the girls thought in unison.

Luffy took out several pieces of paper and activated his sniper bond before he started drawing. He figured since he's going to talk about his crew, then he could draw an accurate illustration of their appearance. He managed to finish Sanji's before handing it to Ruby.

"Here's what Sanji looks like." was all he said to her before moving on to the next one. The red tipped girl briefly widened her eyes at the idea before looking at the picture.

It showed a slim long legged man that has curly eyebrows wearing a double breasted suit and dress pants holding a cigarette between his fingers. One of his eyes are covered by his hair and he also has a dark goatee with a stubble.

Luckily, he used the pencil to color in the darker parts of his attire.

Due to the lack of color, she couldn't distinguish what the color of his hair and attire were except by looking at how dark the gray looked. If it was a dark gray, then it would imply a dark color and vice versa.

Ruby passed the picture over to Weiss, in which she gave a quick look before giving it to the next person. After Velvet had a turn, she gave a verbal description to Fox since he couldn't see it.

He may have Observation Haki, but it doesn't help him decipher what's on the sheet of paper.

"The guy has to be blonde." Jaune guessed with certainty.

"What makes you so sure of that?" Pyrrha asked him.

"Because us blondes tend to be more confident in our looks or flirting." he explained simply.

"I heard that right!" Yang approved before giving her fellow blonde a high five. The rest sweatdropped at their antics while Weiss scoffed at them.

The heiress turned back to Luffy, who happened to finish the next picture. The sight alone compelled her to snatch it from his grasp before he got the chance to hand it to someone. Everyone rose a brow at her odd behavior.

"W-who or what is this adorable thing?" Weiss asked desperately as she showed the others, proverbial hearts fluttering around her.

What they see is a tiny... reindeer or tanuki with a chibi look wearing a cap over his top hat with his antlers poking out the sides. The top hat has a sideways medical cross on the front. The rest of his apparel includes his vertical-striped tank top, a backpack with the same sideways medical cross, and shorts. One of his antlers was braced at the base with a metal plate, showing that it broke at some point.

They couldn't argue with Weiss. He was too damn adorable.

"Oh, that's my doctor, Chopper. He's the reindeer that ate the Human Human fruit. He has these awesome transformations that he uses to fight with." Luffy explained.

"A reindeer? I thought it looked like a tanuki." Yatsu mused.

"What's a tanuki?" Jaune wondered.

"It's another way of calling it a raccoon or raccoon-dog. Although, once you see those antlers, you can't really mistake him for a tanuki." Blake defined.

Weiss was in the middle of staring at the colorless picture, starting to tear up at the unfairness.

Why couldn't she have someone so cute be her doctor.

"Luffy, you need to color these pictures in. You could make a fortune just by making stuffed plushies of this Chopper guy." Coco commented, giving the sisters some thought at the idea of making money. They fell to their knees with a look of depression as they came to a realization.

"That could've helped us before now." They said in gloom.

No one in Remnant could resist the cuteness of Chopper. Their family wouldn't have any money problems if they went with such an idea.

Coco had an apologetic expression for bringing it up to them.

"Yosh, the others are finished. Shishishi, Chopper kind of reminds me of Ruby." Luffy said offhandedly as he spreads out the rest of the pictures across desk. Ruby perked up at the sentence.

"Really? How?" Pyrrha wondered with a bit of surprise.

"Well... he's about the same age as you when we first met him, he's like a little kid, believes anything that he hears, likes sweets, really shy to strangers..." Luffy listed the multiple traits that they have in common.

For every negative trait said, proverbial arrows labeled 'childish', 'naive', and 'socially awkward' struck Ruby in the back.

Her team and the others giggled at her expense as all of the negatives caused her to collapse.

"... but when the time comes, he is someone you can count on." Luffy finished with a nostalgic grin.

The group sweatdropped at the fact that Luffy could've started with that trait first.

'That _does_ sound like her though.' Yang thought to herself.

"You know, your imitations and explanations were pretty good, even if we don't know them. Why not act a bit like how they are instead of just showing us pictures?" Coco suggested to them, more so for Fox's sake than anything.

Given what she just learned about Observation Haki, they see a glowing silhouette of the people around them. If Luffy started using gestures with his body, then Fox should also see the motions.

It seems a bit unfair for a blind guy to be left in the dark. Luffy understood why as he glanced between her and Fox.

"Yeah, sure thing Coco. When Chopper gets a compliment, he would say mean things and do this happy dance... 'You think saying nice things makes me happy. Stop messing with me you jerk'." Luffy demonstrated the doctor's happy dance in front of them. They could see the contradiction between his speech and expression.

They shared a bit of laughter before Velvet started to search through the illustrations. She soon paled upon seeing a skeleton as one of them.

Said skeleton was labeled 'Brook' and looked to be incredibly tall, perhaps taller than Yatsu. Brook had an afro along with what looks like an omega sign crack/scar just below it. He wears a set of clothes that include heart-shaped sunglasses, a feathered boa over his black coat and cravat, and trousers with a floral design.

Luffy peeked over her shoulder to see what she was looking at.

"Oh, Brook. He's the crew's musician and he ate the Revive Revive fruit. He always cracks one of his skull jokes whenever he can." Luffy told her, earning the attention of the others.

"What is up with these devil fruits?" Coco muttered in exasperation. She's in the presence of a rubberman, hears of a fruit that makes you human, now there's one that brings back the dead.

"So his body decayed to the point of being a skeleton, and then it revived? That's cool! Lets throw him in a closet." Nora said, fantasizing about a joke in her mind. Ren facepalmed at the joke being formed.

She wants to make the phrase 'having skeletons in your closet' become literal.

"Hahaha... he also keeps asking girls if he could see their panties, only to get beat up for it. Yohohoho!" Luffy informed them as he imitated Brook's laugh.

"Can't say I blame them." the men deadpanned at the obvious punishment.

'Pervert.' the girls thought in slight disdain.

"He has a lot of guts to ask something like that out of the blue." Pyrrha noted with a frown. Yang snorted at the choice of words.

"Hey Pyrrha, he doesn't have any guts. Hehe, skull joke." Yang said, scoring a laugh from Luffy.

"Since we narrowed down all but one of the devil fruit users, lets talk about the last one. If I remember right, it was Robin with her Flower Flower fruit." Blake recalled as she searched for Robin's picture.

Yang perked up at the thought of seeing the figure of a woman from his old world, before assisting Blake in her search. Seeing as Luffy takes no interest in a woman's looks, she has no idea what the women look like in his world.

They managed to find it, only for the both of them to feel their jaws hit the floor at Robin's appearance. Luffy doesn't hold back on the details despite the lack of inclination.

Robin was a tall, slender, and athletic woman with dark colored hair that goes down to the lower back along with wide pupils and a defined nose. Her clothes are slightly revealing with a long sari-like skirt, a partially zipped leather vest showing a good portion of her generous chest, high heel pumps, and a pair of sunglasses resting on her forehead.

"Did you find Rob-... Luffy, you lucky bastard." Jaune was about to ask, but saw the portrait and couldn't help but feel jealous of Luffy.

"I take it that means she's drop dead gorgeous." Fox guessed based on Jaune's sudden insult.

"Definitely! We're talking about someone shaped like an hourglass, yet is a bit subtle about showing some skin." Coco informed him after catching sight of it. Fox sported a blush as he imagined Robin's looks.

"I don't see why you're freaking out. It's just Robin." Luffy said dumbly, unable to grasp feminine beauty.

After everyone had a turn to stare at the portrait, they (with the exception of Ruby) turned to him with incredulous looks like he grew a second head.

"Okay guys, she's pretty. What's the big deal?" Ruby asked in confusion. She seems to be the least affected out of the group, while the others either felt jealousy or a blow in their confidence.

Her humbleness has protected her from such things.

"Wha-, Ruby! Most girls would commit murder to have a body like that!" Weiss ranted to her partner.

"A-anyway, what can you tell us about her?" Blake urged to move on. While she's fine with the figure she has, she finds herself disheartened by the fact that Luffy is used to seeing women with an even more impressive body.

'Why am I so... affected by this? She's one of Luffy's friends, and he doesn't even see her that way.' Blake frowned in thought as she realized her odd behavior.

She's read enough romance novels to realize that Luffy's presence is starting to plague her thoughts. Blake begins to question herself if she truly thinks of him as a simple friend.

"Hmm... well she's our archaeologist. Her devil fruit lets her bring out any part of her body anywhere she wants, like another person or a wall. Other than that, she's very smart, quiet, reads a lot of books..." Luffy listed off. Some of them were in thought of the potential the devil fruit can hold, while RWY were staring at Blake after hearing the first few traits.

"What?" Blake asked in confusion.

"You two have a lot in common." Yang commented with a sly grin.

"Yeah, you don't talk much, and you do read a lot of books." Ruby stated the obvious facts.

"Not to mention that your grades are exceptional, more so than these three." Weiss through her two cents in as she gestured to the pouting family trio.

"Huh, they are a lot alike. Although I don't think Blake talks about death like... 'Don't run too fast down the stairs, otherwise you could trip and break your neck as you fall'." Luffy compared while trying to come up with an example of Robin's macabre side.

Everyone heard the quote and felt a chill go up their spine at the imagery of a morbid demise. They disposed of the grim comment in order to move on.

"I can see her devil fruit being used for espionage. She could hear this conversation by 'blooming' an ear on the wall or ceiling without us knowing." Ren spoke his thoughts.

"She can also break your back or neck, which is how she fights. When we were getting Franky to join our crew, Robin summoned two hands and crushed his-" Luffy was cut off by Yang clamping her hands on his mouth.

"No one needs to know that, you idiot!" Yang said with a dreaded expression. The men caught on, resulting in the loss of color in their faces.

They don't ever want to imagine the pain the shipwright was in at that moment.

"Speaking of Franky, where is he at?" Yang mumbled as she skimmed the sheets of paper for the shipwright. This is her chance to see the person that gave Luffy the info to make Bumblebee, after all.

"Come to think of it, Nami was the other girl in the crew. Wonder what she looks like." Jaune joined the fellow blonde in the search for another crewmate. The both of them managed to find the poster at the same time, but with different reactions.

"Awesome! He really does look like a cyborg... at least a perverted one." Yang said as she stared in awe of Franky's visual description before noticing the pair of speedos he's wearing.

Franky had a large upper body with a well-toned chest, large abs, and pectoral muscles. His hair is formed into a buzz cut of a bright color based on the light gray colored in. Some of the more prominent features include his three pointed clefts, a prosthetic nose, two stitched scars going from each side of his neck and down his torso, and his mechanical arms.

Said arms have studded hands, large cubed forearms with half a star on the edge, hinges for elbows, and large orbs for shoulder joints with 'BF-37' labeled on them.

Aside from the speedos, he also wears a shirt with coconut trees and sunglasses.

She turns her attention to Jaune, who is suffering a slight nosebleed.

Yang blinks in confusion until she takes a look herself. Her jaw was left hanging open as she engraved another bombshell into memory.

Nami was a young woman with hair reaching her lower back with a well pronounced hourglass figure, much like Robin. Unlike Robin, however, she wears a revealing bikini halter top, tight low rider jeans, high heel sandals, and pearl like earrings.

She also has a tattoo on her left shoulder, which Yang recognizes as the symbol for Luffy's navigator bond.

Everyone else were curious about Nami as they confiscated the sheet from Jaune's dumbstruck grasp.

His body decided to finally function and picked Luffy up by the front of his hoodie.

"Luffy! Please tell me that you felt _something_ when you stared at them!" Jaune comically cried while shaking the rubber man.

He sounded so desperate to the others, but the reason suddenly hit Yang full force.

"Holy crap! How do you NOT get turned on by those two!?" Yang asked Luffy, completely baffled at this point.

Now that their attractiveness has been revealed, it's now occurred to her how dense Luffy truly is.

Seriously, they can give _her_ of all people a run for her money.

"What do you mean, Yang? Nami is the best navigator, but is really greedy with money. She also likes mikan, and is really nice when it comes to kids. What does that have to do with getting turned on? What does that even mean, anyway?" Luffy shot a barrage of questions at his elder cousin.

Yang couldn't respond to him as she was stuck in a mental rant. She should've known this was coming. Yet she can't shake the feeling that her mission to fill in Luffy's love life just got more difficult. It was as if lust never existed in him.

"We're getting off track again. We can all talk about his lack of lust after all of this." Weiss said with a twitching eye.

It wasn't their business to pry into something as personal as Luffy's experiences with romance, nor does she really care to know. Not only that, but she also wants to forget the feeling of being upstaged.

The others slowly nodded their heads in agreement, almost forgetting the original topic.

"Alright then! Give us some details about Franky." Yang demanded in excitement. Luffy tilted his head in thought of how to explain the cyborg before he wore a grin.

"Ow! He's the _super_ shipwright of the crew!" Luffy started off by performing the signature pose by tilting his body and putting his forearms together. This earned a series of giggles from his friends.

"He also made some cool things like a submarine, tank, or cy-bike. That's not even the best thing, the cy-bike and tank can dock together to make a mecha!" Luffy exclaimed with stars in his eyes. Jaune, Fox, Nora, and both sisters also had twinkling eyes in awe of the inventions.

Even Yatsu, who still maintained the same calm posture, has the stars in his eyes, earning an eye roll from Coco.

'Boys... and tomboys.' she thought to herself in amusement, taking note that some of the girls have a liking to some guy things.

"That's so cool! He's more like an inventor than a shipwright!" Nora commented in amazement. Given all the inventions, one would assume that being a shipwright was a hobby of his.

"So he's the one that can shoot a laser beam from his hands? The same one you tried to make with Aura?" Ren guessed based on what Luffy tried to demonstrate days ago. This earned everyone's attention immediately as they adopted a look of shock at the news.

"Y-you can do that!?" Velvet exclaimed in disbelief, which Luffy responded with a nod.

"Yeah I can, it's just that my control over Aura isn't good enough. Ever since I talked to Ren though, it's gotten a bit better." Luffy stated happily. Ruby and Yang smile at the update on his Aura control while the others seem confused since they don't understand his problem with it.

"Well I'm happy to here that, Lufes. Now, lets save Zoro for last and move to Usopp." Yang suggested to the group, though Blake was looking skeptical of her partner's suggestion. Why did it matter which two went first? As if voicing her thoughts...

"I don't see what difference it makes, but okay." Luffy shrugged off before grabbing Usopp's illustration to show them.

Usopp was a muscular man with a long nose, long wooly hair, and a little goatee. His attire consists of a suncap, striped armband, a pair of goggles around his neck, rolled up pants with a satchel, and boots.

They couldn't help but quirk a brow at the long nose he has, as if he was an allusion to another fairytale.

"What's the best way to describe him? Because honestly, he looks like a liar." Jaune commented, earning a chuckle from Luffy.

"That is what he does a lot of. His usual lie goes like 'I'm the great captain Usopp, and I'll crush you with my 8,000 followers!'." Luffy imitated one of Usopp's lies. Jaune sweatdrops at the obvious lie, wondering how he deceives anyone like that.

"He also tries to trick his opponents with fake hammers and a rubberband. Since there's no Dust in my world, he uses Pop Greens with his slingshot." the straw hat boy said.

"Uh... Pop Greens?" Pyrrha said in confusion of the type of ammo.

"He shoots it at you and makes man-eating Venus flytraps, bamboo, and so many other plant things." he explained to her, causing Pyrrha to ponder on its uses.

Basically, the Pop Greens serve many purposes both in and out of combat. The kind of thing that is very versatile for a sniper to have. Wait a sec...

"Let me get this straight, Usopp is your sniper." Coco started off, with Luffy replying with a nod.

"That uses a slingshot." the fashionista continued with a dull tone, only to gain another nod.

That was completely unorthodox to what a proper sniper would be equipped with. Yet, somehow or another, he seems to be a force to be reckoned with.

Until Luffy opened his big mouth.

"He's a real scaredy cat though. He'll run from the danger, but he'll shoot you if you're not paying attention to him or when our lives are at stake." Luffy informed them with a stupid grin.

Although most of that screams 'coward', he doesn't abandon his crew when they need him. They noticed that common thread: to rush to each others aid for the sake of watching their backs.

They smiled at how tightly knit the pirates seem to be, like a family forged from their bonds.

Seeing as there isn't much else about Usopp to talk about, Pyrrha takes up the last sheet of paper and inspects it to confirm if it's indeed the champion.

And wouldn't you know, it is the very same person.

Zoro doesn't look all too different from when Pyrrha fought him aside from the one part of his clothes, which was the dark colored coat closed at the waist and held by a sash.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a wolf whistle, courtesy of Yang.

"Damn! His body is sculpted into manliness, and you got to see this three times! You're really lucky." Yang teased in slight jealousy. Pyrrha had the honor of getting up close and personal to such a hot body, it hardly seemed fair. The redhead could only sigh at the blonde's admiration.

"This Zoro person is actually here?" Fox mused in surprise. He figured that _all_ his crewmates would be spiritually bound to Luffy.

"Apparently, he's the champ of the Mistral Tournament, on a winning streak of three years." Weiss exposed, shocking team CVFY.

They knew that Pyrrha won once, and that she was very formidable in comparison to the other contestants. But the fact that the one person that beat her the next three times was actually Luffy's crewmate.

That thought alone made them wonder if Luffy is as strong as Zoro. If not, stronger.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from the best. Ever since he lost to Mihawk, he swore to me that he would never lose again. The scar on his chest is proof of that." Luffy told them as he pointed out the large scar, sounding very respectful to his first mate. They can hear how happy he sounded, probably due to the knowledge of Zoro being in this world.

"I'm sure he'll come running here as fast as he can once he gets word that you're here. Although, I kinda wonder how long that will be with his sense of direction." Ruby attempted to assure her cousin, though the second half betrayed such assurance.

"Oh right... there's that quirk. You can point him in one direction, only for him to go the other way the very next second." Yang muttered. She can't really boast about having a perfect sense of direction, but there's no way someone could have it as bad as him.

"That explains why he has someone leading him to the arena all the time." Pyrrha said as if she just pieced together a puzzle.

Little did they know that a certain swordsman sneezed somewhere out there at the comments behind his back, much to his annoyance as a ghost girl made fun of him.

"Zoro always seems to sleep, drink, lift weights, or argue with Sanji whenever I see him though." Luffy noted casually. It was true that the green haired man never really joined in on their playful games at times, mainly focusing on mostly his pastimes.

Yang wore a grin at the thought of having a hot drinking buddy. So far, things are looking up for her. She just has to get by his gruff exterior.

Coco lifted herself from her seat before stretching out any soreness.

"Well, I'd love to stay and satisfy more of our intrigue but... we gotta go and get on with our work. If I remember right, you guys have a field trip to Forever Fall in a few days." Coco told them, earning a surprised look from Luffy.

"Oh right! I almost forgot about that!" he said dumbly. Jaune stares at him incredulously, while the others looked stupefied that the adventurous former pirate nearly forgot about it.

"Seriously! Luffy, we told you this before. You wouldn't calm your excitement over it the entire day." Jaune reminded the boy in exasperation, who rubbed his head sheepishly for forgetting about the trip. But no sooner did he start getting giddy in anticipation.

The rest of Coco's team stood up as they shuffled over to the door.

"It's been a pleasure meeting you. Thanks for looking after Velvet for us when we couldn't." Yatsu said gratefully to the occupants.

"Yes, thank you for that and sharing this with us. I'll see you later. " Velvet cheered, feeling less bashful around Luffy's group. She could narrow it down to the friendly atmosphere they give off.

Luffy just gives her a thumbs up coupled with a toothy grin as the team walked out of the room.

Team CVFY was only able to walk several yards away from the door until they heard a ruckus coming from the room they just left. They turned around to be introduced to a comical sight.

Each member of team RWBY were carrying Luffy by each of his limbs with a tight grasp out of his room before transporting him to their room, all while Luffy cried for help.

"Let me go! Guys help! They're taking me to study for the test tomorrow!" Luffy pleaded to them as they stared on passively. He couldn't really resist since his whole body isn't touching the floor.

They blinked owlishly before giving him a mock salute, resigning him to his fate much to the boy's shock.

"Sorry, Luffy. As your new friends, we can't interfere with something that benefits you. Do your best!" The team said in unison, stifling laughter as they watched Luffy go pale.

"You heard them, Luffy. The sooner you finish, the sooner I get to eat a salmon sandwich." Blake pointed out selfishly.

RWY quirked a brow at the reason why Blake wants to help him out. How's that going to convince him to study?

'Hehe... Luffy won her over with his cooking, now it comes back to haunt him.' Yang thought to herself with a smug grin.

"You're doing this for food! That's so selfish!" Luffy retorted with shark teeth.

"Like you're one to talk!" team RWBY countered in unison.

"Think of it this way; when I get to eat, that means the same for you." Blake reasoned smoothly, earning a round of 'oh' from the rest.

Just like that, they rushed inside their dorm while team JNPR left for their own dorms.

Team CVFY sweatdropped at how the sight, wondering if this was the norm for them.

"Why do I get the feeling that we voluntarily sent Luffy into the bowels of hell? If he's that much of an idiot, his head will explode from overload." Fox questioned himself.

"Don't say something so dark!" his team scolded him. Fox waved his hands in a placating gesture before turning back to Luffy's previous location.

"Although... hearing everything that was said today makes me wish I could actually see for once. Maybe this was what Fujitora meant when he said that he regretted blinding himself." Fox mused, astonishing the others.

"That's a first. You never really complained about your blindness before." Coco pointed out to him.

Sure there were inconveniences for it, but he learned to work with it.

"Yeah, I haven't. But now I want to see everyone's expressions, their hair color, their eyes. I want to see what the world actually looks like instead of just sensing things through Observation Haki. Because to me, I'm sure Luffy looked very kind and caring, as evident as how he feels for his crew." Fox confessed his wishes.

They couldn't help but give a soft smile at his desires. They knew it to be true. Luffy's pirate crew will always have a special place in Luffy for as long as he lives. The thought caused Velvet to frown for another reason.

"It must be so sad for him, not being able to at least talk with his crew. He must miss them a lot." Velvet said solemnly. Yatsu was not going to let this conversation turn all gloomy for them though.

"But that's why he has us now. Even now, I think they're looking out for him in spirit, just like his semblance implies." Yatsu said in an attempt to brighten the mood. It seems to have worked if their small smiles were anything to go on.

They resumed on their small journey to their dorms, although Coco had one more thing to point out.

"Just so you know Fox, you're going to teach us this Observation Haki. Think of it as punishment for holding out on us." she ordered, causing Fox to deflate.

He should've seen that coming, not that he has a right to complain. It's just that it would be the first time _teaching_ someone else.

"How riveting." he said sarcastically.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Whew. This chapter wasn't meant to be long, but it is after having to go over his crewmates and the teams' reactions.**

 **Please leave reviews and votes for feedback.**


	20. Forever Fall

**Some people mentioned that I forgot about Jimbei and Luffy's fleet. I didn't really think about them, so I shall make sure to amend this soon. Though neither of them are included in his semblance, just the crewmembers he gathered before the time-skip (minus Zoro).**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 20**

Professor Goodwitch is leading teams RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, and Luffy through Forever Falls. The students followed her in awe of their surroundings, seeing the soft breeze brush against the red tree leaves which gave off the feeling of being under a crimson blanket. Even the grass they walk on shares the same shade of red as the rest.

They were sent here on an assignment, but they couldn't help but admire the sights. This is especially true with Luffy, seeing as his eyes were darting around the place with the thirst for adventure.

"Mr. Branwen!" Glynda called out to him with a scowl, breaking Luffy out of his desire to explore.

"We're not here to be dawdling around, as breathtaking as Forever Fall may be." the professor reprimanded him before continuing.

"Professor Peach has sent us to collect samples of tree sap in this region, and I'm here to make sure none of you perish while doing so. Each of you are to gather one jar's worth of sap. Be warned though as this place is teeming with Grimm, so be sure to stay close to your teammates. As for-" Glynda tried to talk about Luffy's teaming assignment before Ruby interjected.

"Don't worry professor, we'll be sure to have an eye on Luffy." the redhead said in optimism as she gives a mock salute.

"See that you do. We'll regroup here at four o'clock." was all Glynda had to say in return before she left to secure the perimeter of any Grimm she can find. She's silently thankful that Ruby and Yang understand their own routine to keep Luffy in line.

Ruby turned back to Luffy to see him avert his gaze while whistling.

That can only spell trouble.

"It's not like I'm going to try to find some Grimm to kill." Luffy lied blatantly, though the thought of discovering new Grimm tempted Ruby.

'Well... as long as we're close to each other, she shouldn't mind.' Ruby thought slyly. The young leader suddenly felt an icy glare pointed her way, one that she is all too familiar with.

The two fifteen year olds turn their attention to Weiss, who had a stern stare piercing them.

"You two wouldn't be thinking of going on a Grimm hunting crusade, would you?" the heiress asked them with a knowing look. Ruby was sweating bullets as she couldn't maintain eye contact with her partner.

"W-whatever gave you that idea?" Ruby stuttered under the pressure. Weiss was unamused at her partner dodging the question.

During the exchange, Jaune was becoming weary of Cardin and his team. While they had no expression present, he couldn't help but wonder if they're simply biding their time. A sudden touch on his shoulder broke him out of his musings as he turned his head to the side.

He finds Pyrrha staring into his blue eyes with concern.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

"Y-yeah. I got this bad feeling that Cardin is up to something. I don't know what, but I can tell it's about Luffy." Jaune confided. Pyrrha cupped her chin in thought of the possibility.

Cardin has always been quick to act on payback when humiliated, and Luffy has been the cause of most of his embarrassment. Jaune's worries are well warranted.

"Why don't we investigate after we finish our end of the assignment." the redhead suggested.

The blonde nodded at the course of action, though a bit reluctant about leaving the bullies to their own devices for a short while.

The students started to collect the sap from the trees dotting the landscape. Unfortunately, they learned that Jaune has an allergy to the stuff. Team CRDL were no where to be found, suggesting that they're gonna try to act covertly.

Since Luffy already finished his task, he's left with barely anything to do. The boy had the sudden idea about collecting another jar of sap for safe keeping. Luffy might as well stock up while he can.

He's pretty sure Witch wouldn't mind if he kept a jar, right?

The straw hat boy was quite a distance away from where they started. If he needed to find someone then he could just use Observation Haki to sense their locations.

Sure Nami's bond could help him with directions, but he forgot to use it to know which way he started walking, therefore he wouldn't know how to go back with just directions.

His own sense of direction is just barely better than Zoro's, seeing as he uses the simple logic of staying in one direction rather than take detours for no apparent reason.

As he proceeded to collect sap, he was softly chanting a happy tune that almost sounded like Nora's chant. But instead of 'queen of the castle', it was...

"I'm king of the pirates~, I'm king of the pirates~" he continued to chant until he heard another voice.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked in slight amusement to his chanting. She seems to be the only one that heard him due to her enhanced hearing.

"Just collecting sap." he answered simply. Blake raised a brow as she shifted her gaze to the already filled jar.

"The professor told us to get one. I doubt she's going to give extra credit for bringing more." the amber eyed girl noted.

"I know that. But this stuff is really tasty, and it could help with cuts just like the sap in Mt. Corvo." Luffy informed the hidden cat faunus.

Blake showed a bit of surprise at his resourcefulness, utilizing the sap for medicinal properties. Although he could also be using it for food instead. It has been known that sap can be used as an antiseptic or to staunch the flow of blood.

She noticed there isn't a glowing symbol on his hand, indicating that he himself knew this.

"Looks like you know a thing about surviving in the wild." Blake commented with piqued curiosity. Luffy chuckled at the comment.

"Yeah! I lived in Mt. Corvo when I was seven all the way up to the start of my adventure." he told her, his voice laced in nostalgia as he remembered some of the better times.

This started to confuse Blake. He told them that his hometown was Foosha Village, yet he spent the majority of his childhood in Mt. Corvo. She assumed it to be a camping trip, but given that he lived there for what sounded like _years_ took out that notion.

"So someone taught you this?" Blake presumed.

"Nope. I just figured that if it clogs up the holes in a tree, then it could work on the cuts that I got back then." Luffy elaborated with simple logic.

Blake had wide eyed plates at the new piece of info. No one bothered to tell him that, instead he learned it through instinctual thinking alone. He saw the substance ooze out of an injured tree and covered it, thinking it could also be applied in a similar manner to his body.

This only served to bring up more concerning questions in her mind. Did he have someone to care for him? Were there other kids his age? Did he even go to a school in the last life?

More and more questions piled on, but she couldn't find the will to ask them. Because even if she had her answers, it still would've lead to the same outcome that continues to baffle her.

The fact that Luffy can still genuinely smile. It wasn't a smile to hide the pain behind, it was a sign that he was still content with his life despite the hardships and circumstances. War changes people drastically, yet Luffy survived through one and has kept his goofy grin.

In a way, she found that to be very endearing as well as admiring. It goes to show that nothing could tear him down, nothing could scare him from facing tough obstacles as he always remained strong willed.

A sharp contrast to how she is, who's first instinct is to run when she doesn't know how to handle the situation. She always hated running away, because she knew that it would solve nothing. It's just a temporary solace from the stress before the problem comes full circle.

Blake sighed before she crossed her arms and leaned against a tree, letting the silence settle in as she drops the conversation. Meanwhile, Luffy was still in the middle of drawing out the sap from the tree, not at all worried about any danger.

Unbeknownst to the two, Yang was peeping around a far off tree with a bored expression. She was hoping that her partner was going to use this alone time to get to know him better. Sadly, their conversation looked like it was very short with not much revealed from either side. The blonde did notice that Blake's expression displayed some concern before switching to lament for whatever reason.

She was about to make an entrance and give them a little push until she heard a voice behind her.

"What are you snooping around for?" Yang stiffened as she heard her sister's exasperated tone. She turns around to find the other members of her team staring at her with half lidded eyes.

"Oh... nothing. Just _Yanging_ around." the brawler punned as she chuckled sheepishly.

Ruby and Weiss didn't even bother to groan at the horrible pun as they kept their gazes.

"Could you stop devoting yourself to this?" Weiss asked with an irritated tone.

"What are you talking about?" Yang questioned as she still feigned ignorance.

"Yang, please stop. Your matchmaking is starting to be like that salesman that was bugging us for months, even when dad and uncle Qrow were telling him 'no'." the redhead said sternly.

'What kind of comparison is that?' Weiss thought to herself with a raised brow.

Though Yang seems to remember that time seeing as she was pouting at being compared to someone so obnoxious.

"Anyway, it's very obvious how annoying it is. You've gotten to the point that you suggest some ideas to her in the middle of homework, some of which may or may not have been very suggestive. Just leave it alone." Weiss reprimanded her. At first, Weiss thought nothing of it. But as time passed, Yang's numerous suggestions was starting to interfere with their schoolwork as a distraction.

They couldn't even focus with some of the imagery from some of the less than innocent notions. Sometimes, it was trying to explain to Ruby what each suggestion entailed.

Deciding not to fool around any longer, Yang adopts a more serious expression. Ruby groaned at the change, knowing how Yang was going to respond.

"Sorry, girls. But I don't want Luffy to go through a second life without any romantic relationships." Yang said in disagreement to their insistence.

It was something she couldn't bear witness to. The thought of not displaying any loving affection to your significant other just makes your life feel empty, at least in her opinion.

"That's just it. It's what _you_ want, not what Luffy wants. He was satisfied with his first life from what I can tell, and he didn't even fall in love with anyone then. Am I wrong?" Weiss challenged. Yang frowned in response, but doesn't falter.

"You're right... he may not ever take any interest. But as a part of his family, I want to show him that there is more to having an adventure than just seeing the world and fighting Grimm. This may be the last life he has, no more reincarnating. I'm not going to leave this be, not when this is possibly his last chance for it." Yang told them, not budging in her stance on the matter.

There's no telling what will happen when he passes on from this life. She'll be damned if she doesn't try to somehow prove to Luffy that he can fill his life with something more than just exploring the world.

As one would say, variety is the spice of life.

The three held a staring contest as they tried to find anything else to argue. In the end, Ruby and Weiss knew that Yang was just as stubborn as Luffy at times. No matter what they say, it won't change her mind.

"Fine. If you're not going to cease, then at least tone it down. Blake doesn't need to be reminded everyday." Weiss conceded, causing Yang to brighten up a little.

"You also have to accept how this turns out. Because in the end, we both just want Luffy to be alive and happy." Ruby told her sister. While Yang was certainly cheered up after receiving a lecture, Weiss quirked a brow at how Ruby worded it.

She knew that happiness was a given for the two to ensure as family. But when she mentioned living, it sounded more like the results of a traumatic experience.

The heiress couldn't imagine why they would fret over his well being when he is stronger than both of them. Weiss shelved these wondering thoughts for a later occasion, when they're ready to explain the events.

"I guess I'll work with that. As long as I get to tease her, I'll live." Yang said as she sported a devious grin, bringing Weiss back to the present. The two facepalmed before they grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her away from their hiding spot and from Blake and Luffy.

As long as it doesn't become too much, they don't see much of a problem.

Back with the black haired duo, Blake heard everything with her enhanced hearing. While she didn't notice that Yang was nearby at first, they weren't really trying to be quiet when the lecture started. However, Luffy seems completely oblivious to them as he's focused on his task.

Blake wore a small smile as they made a compromise. The team was slowly shaping up with all the small problems being resolved. Though she did have similar thoughts as Weiss about Ruby's last statement.

"Neh, Blake." Luffy spoke up, breaking the girl out of her thoughts. He was just standing there with both jars of sap in his hands.

"You wanna look for Grimm?" Luffy asked her with a childish grin. Blake rolled her eyes at the boy's desire. Looks like Ruby isn't the only kill happy Grimm hunter.

"Why don't we head back first? We'll take the rest of the team along instead of just the two of us." Blake reasoned with him. Luffy simply shrugged his shoulders, signaling that he will follow along with that.

Sure he was itching for a fight right now, but he doesn't want to leave the others behind. Besides, his cousins would throw a fit for not having them tag along.

Although it wouldn't hurt to try and get their faster, right? He also has Blake to point the way back for him.

"Alright! Get on my back, then I can Sky Walk over there." the straw hat boy told her. Blake contemplated on going with that, even if it is a short distance away.

There was a possible chance that the two could make it back before the three eavesdroppers, which she would get a kick out of their reactions. Not only that, she gets to experience what is technically flight other than being catapulted across the place.

After weighing the pros and cons, Blake nodded in agreement before climbing onto his back. Since Luffy's hands were full with two jars, the hidden faunus had to wrap her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

Now that she knows what position she's stuck with when they're high in the air, Blake was starting to feel uneasy about the idea. But before she could protest against the idea...

" **Sky Walk** "

Blake already felt the force of his jump as he leapt through an opening in the trees, then proceeded to ascend to greater heights as she heard what could only be the sounds of his feet kicking the air. She couldn't bother to look around as she subconsciously closed her eyes and tightened her grip in fear of falling an unknown height.

When she felt the ascension stop, Blake cracked an eye open before both eyes shot open in amazement to her surroundings. All the amber eyed girl could see around them was a mix of blue sky and white clouds along with an ocean of crimson below. Her grip was still firm, but more relaxed since they began to climb to new heights.

She could still hear the kicking, but it was more to keep their altitude.

"Wow." she managed to breathe out as she was mesmerized by the view. She wondered if this was what Ruby and Yang get to see every time they hitch a ride with Luffy using this technique.

"I know right. It reminds me of Skypiea." Luffy recalled, earning Blake's curiosity.

"And what would that be?" she asked with a raised brow. Luffy puts on a strained thinking face as he thought of how to describe it.

"It's... like a world in the sky. The islands and the ocean were clouds, and the people used these awesome dials for stuff. The dials look like shells, but they can do things like make sounds or blow air." Luffy shared some of the details of Skypiea.

Blake lets out a hum in response, internally thinking that the place sounds so bizarre that it would belong in a fairy tale. Considering how his world looked, it wouldn't be too surprising to run into some locations like that.

"This is why I loved being a pirate. To be free from everything, not to control anything nor be controlled." Luffy said in reminisce.

"Freedom, huh? That actually sounds really nice." Blake said softly. To be free from subjugation for being a faunus, but not using fear to control the masses. To her, it felt more like what the old White Fang were trying to achieve aside from peace.

"Maybe-" Blake cuts herself off as she spots a black object flying around. She squints her eyes in order to confirm what it is. One thing was for certain, it was a Grimm.

"What's wrong, Blake?" Luffy asked in concern when he noticed how alert she was. He stared off in the direction she was looking to find the small object.

"Ehh! Is it one of those big birds. Ugh... they're so annoying." Luffy whined at the thought of fighting another Nevermore. Blake shook her head in response.

"I don't think so, Luffy. Either way, we should hurry back before it sees us. We both have our hands full as it is." Blake advised him, earning a nod of agreement.

Blake was pretty much clinging onto him for dear life while Luffy is still holding the two jars of sap. It wouldn't bode well if they had to fight an airborne Grimm.

'Whatever that thing is, it's too small and lean to be a Nevermore.' Blake narrowed down in her thoughts, judging from what little she could gather at their current distance. It was only a matter of time before they find out as it is still hovering in the sky.

* * *

 _With team JNPR..._

The team were finally finished collecting their jars of sap. There were some complications such as Jaune's recently discovered allergy as well as Nora lapping up all the sap in a jar she's holding in an instant.

Luckily, the allergy was pretty light on Jaune as he only suffered a case of nasal congestion. It could've been something more severe like breaking out in hives.

After they regrouped at their starting point, Jaune informed Ren and Nora about the bad vibes he was getting from Cardin's team.

"So they're up to no good again. Lets just break their legs already so we won't have to worry." Nora thought of her own idea on a whim.

"That would only make _us_ the bullies, Nora." Ren deadpanned, causing the hyper girl to pout at her idea being shot down.

"As long as we don't have a reason to do so, then we'd be the bullies. So Pyrrha and I are going to sneak around and... I guess stalk them to see if they are going to do anything. You two stay here and keep an eye out. Luffy may come back here at some point, so that's when Cardin is going to act." Jaune laid out the course of action for his team.

Stalking was pretty accurate for what they're about to do in his opinion; following the other team without their knowledge.

'I think eavesdropping would be a better word for it.' Pyrrha thought with a sweatdrop. The way he made it sound makes them look like a pair of creepy stalkers.

"Roger!" Nora shouted with a mock salute, while Ren simply nodded his head.

"Alright! Pyrrha, come on. Lets go find th-wah!" Jaune was about to tell her as he tried to walk off all cool like until his foot caught a root in the ground, causing him to fall face first into the dirt. Nora laughed at his clumsiness while Pyrrha shook her head with amusement as she walked to him with her hand held out.

"What are you doing, Jaune? You're going to fall behind." Pyrrha noted to him as the boy took her hand and got pulled back up. She looked back to what she just said with wide eyes.

"... Goddammit Yang." she muttered under her breath. The blonde managed to poison them with her puns.

Jaune just dusts himself off with a tinge of red on his cheeks in embarrassment. He just had to prove that he can be a klutz.

"T-that didn't happen, okay." he told his team.

"Whatever you say." his team said in unison.

Soon the two finally set off in search of the possible troublemakers, leaving the pair of childhood friends behind.

"If only he could see what's in front of him." Ren stated with Nora nodding.

"Yeah, he might stumble over more killer roots before he gets there." Nora commented.

Ren was a little confused if Nora meant that literally or figuratively. Surely she knows what he was referring to, right?

Back with Jaune and Pyrrha, they scoured the surrounding area for any signs of the armor wearing team. After what seemed like forever, they discovered the four bullies laying down on a small cliff overlooking the clearing they were just at. Jaune pointed at the two trees closest to them, gesturing to hide behind them. Pyrrha complied and did so, but began to hear some their chatter.

"Where is that straw hat brat!?" Cardin growled in a low tone. After they did the actual work that they wanted Jaune to do, the team camped at this location in order to exact their revenge on the young boy.

He has made a fool of them on multiple occasions, from the cafeteria, to class, and finally their spar. The insane duo made beating them such a joke. Enough was enough, so they spent a lot of their waking hours plotting their vengeance.

Jaune and Pyrrha widened their eyes briefly at that. Looks like Jaune's worries were spot on. They took notice of a cardboard box that was emanating a soft buzzing sound as well as five jars of sap.

'Wait, five? What's the extra one for?' the blonde thought to himself in confusion. As lazy as they are, team CRDL would be the last team that would put in extra effort.

"Just wait till he gets here. Once he does, we'll cover him in this sweet sap and launch those rapier wasps upon him. That'll show him not to mess with us!" Dove snarled with venom.

Through much painful research, they discovered that rapier wasps have an incredible sweet tooth. The insects will swarm towards the source, who they planned on having Luffy test this.

Their breaths hitched at their plan.

"Looks like you're right, Jaune. We have to stop... them." Pyrrha whispered to her leader, but noticed Jaune had an expression that she hadn't seen yet.

It's the look of a defender that's about to act aggressively to threats.

Both of his hands were curled so tightly that his knuckles were white, teeth were clenched, he stood stiff but she could see slight shaking. His eyes, however, spoke of his intentions loud and clear.

Before she could tell him to think rationally, Jaune already dashed out of his hiding spot to confront them. Pyrrha soon followed, deciding to support his rather bold decision.

"CARDIN!" Jaune shouted, startling team CRDL. The leader turns around in surprise, but soon shifted to a smirk upon spotting the blonde.

Whether it worked or not, Jaune was trying to appear intimidating to them. Pyrrha soon arrived next to him with her eyes narrowed.

"Hey there, Jauney Boy. Nice to see that you brought someone to babysit you." Cardin greeted with a condescending tone.

"This plan of yours is not going to work." Jaune stated confidently. Pyrrha glanced at her leader and saw the deeper meaning behind it. Cardin's team bellowed in laughter at the proclamation.

"Pfft! What are you going to do? Tell the professor on us? Send word to the straw hat freak? Or perhaps... you're going to beat us to a pulp?" Cardin questioned in haughty amusement. What happened next confused the four.

Jaune and Pyrrha were... giggling in front of them.

"What the hell do think is so funny?" the bully asked in rising anger.

"I think you misinterpreted what Jaune meant by that." Pyrrha told them after the giggling died down. While the two do plan to stop them, there was another reason why it was doomed to fail.

"What do you mean?" Sky asked.

"What I mean to say... is that no matter how much you try to bring him down, he will still stay standing. You won't ever win against him." Jaune clarified, to which Cardin gritted his teeth.

"Even without any of his special abilities, he's the strongest guy I know. He's so hellishly determined that no one could ever hope to conquer his will." the blue eyed boy confessed his admiration.

Pyrrha just stood there as she kept her gaze on Jaune as he gave his heartfelt speech. She never thought that Jaune held their idiotic, yet crazy Haki teacher in such high regard before now. Although it should've been obvious with everything Luffy has done for them thus far.

"Tch. And what does that have to do with right now?" Cardin sneered as he was getting really irritated with his ramblings.

"I thought that I wanted to follow in my family's footsteps to become a hero. But now..." Jaune gave them a stern stare of resolution. "...I want to become a hero of my own design, and this is my first step!" Jaune declared loudly.

He desires to forge his own path to heroism. He doesn't necessarily have to follow the same road as the descendants before him. Luffy has done well to prove that there is no single way.

He proclaims that he doesn't want to be one, but his actions are still portrayed to be heroic to those around him. A pirate that saves others not because it was simply the right thing to do, but instead was acting on sincerity.

"So you think you're a big kid now, huh? Care to share what this first step is?" Russell inquired.

"To stand up for others. Even if they don't need or deserve the help. Right?" Pyrrha spoke up, as if reading Jaune's mind. Her partner could only nod with a grin.

"Yeah, because what kind of person would we be if we turned tail and ran." Jaune said before the two entered a combat stance, resisting to draw their weapons. They may be ignorant scum, but they wouldn't point their weapons on another person.

Cardin scoffed at their bravado as he and the rest of his team cracked their knuckles in preparation for a fistfight.

"Well, boys. Looks like we get to put someone in their places." Cardin gave a cocky grin, thinking they could win through numbers. Jaune was weak in combat overall, but Pyrrha was a bit of an unknown, seeing as they never witnessed her fighting style.

Their standoff was cut short by the ground shaking, as if something big was approaching. Jaune and Pyrrha were confused by the fearful looks that team CRDL were giving, though they didn't have to wonder for long.

Pyrrha glanced behind them only to panic that a huge Ursa was about to slam down on Jaune.

"Look out!" she yelled as she tackled her leader to the ground before black paws made contact with Jaune's previous location.

Little did they know that a shadow was circling around them, indicating that something is flying over them.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Uh oh, another OC Grimm is on the horizon.**

 **Please leave reviews and votes for feedback.**


	21. Knight's Will

**In response to a guest review that mentioned the gorilla Grimm being done in volume 4, I'd like to point out that the volume 4 trailer was leaked after the chapter when the OC Grimm appeared. Either way, it should work itself out with what I thought up.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 21**

The six stared at the Ursa Major that made a hostile entrance with wide eyes. They could only assume that their previous aggression must've attracted it towards them.

The innumerable spikes decorating it just shows how experienced it is, showing that it is not to be trifled with.

Team CRDL were cowering in fear of the huge beast. Relying on their fight-or-flight instincts, the entire team fled from the cliff and into the thicket of trees, leaving Jaune and Pyrrha who just stood back up from narrowly evading the first strike.

The Ursa scanned the two, but thought it would be troublesome to engage in combat with someone who would retaliate. So it opted for turning around to pursue the group of cowards.

"What?" Jaune wondered in confusion as the Grimm left the two alone. Pyrrha seems to understand why though.

"Jaune, it's going after the easy prey instead of prey that fights back!" Pyrrha informed her leader.

"Cardin and his team." Jaune figured out after a little thought, but noticed the shadow on the ground moving in the same direction as where the others took off.

This prompted him to look up and spot something flying. Pyrrha followed his sight and barely saw the small speck in the distance, unable to get a proper observation of the creature.

The only thing she could gather was that its size was smaller than the Ursa, that much she's sure of.

"Looks like something else is after them. Come on!" the blonde commanded, earning a nod from his partner.

"What do you think that thing in the sky was?" Pyrrha inquired as she was still perplexed by what she seen.

"I don't know, but I'm betting that it's another Grimm we haven't seen yet." Jaune theorized as he did not having a lot to go on either. A Nevermore would've been easy to notice, but it doesn't have that same threatening size. So he could only narrow it down to something unheard of so far, like the B.K in initiation.

They continued following the trail of disturbed debris caused by the chase until they found a clearing containing Cardin's team as well as the Ursa Major.

The two caught sight of Cardin tripping over a root, forcing him to fall. His team, however, never took note of this as they proceeded to leave him behind.

The fallen huntsman turned to face the creature as he pulled up his mace in a pathetic attempt to shield himself from a blow. The Major approached and swatted his weapon easily, making him completely defenseless. The only thing he could use to block the next strike was his own arms.

He did so, but the bear Grimm landed a wild swing that sent him flying across the field. Cardin skipped a few times before laying in a heap, groaning in pain as he is vulnerable to another attack. The Grimm capitalized upon the chance and proceeded to end his life... only to be stopped by someone else as its paw was about to make contact.

The bully managed to recover from the daze only to be left speechless as Jaune stood between him and the Ursa.

The very person that he caused so much torment to during their time in Beacon.

The boy was barely holding on as his knees buckled from the force when he used his shield to block the attack.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out as she was fixing to enter the fray with Milo and Akouo at the ready.

"Wait!" Jaune ordered as he finally pushed the Ursa off of him.

Pyrrha stopped in her tracks and was a bit befuddled at being told to hang back. She didn't have to wonder why for long, though.

"That flying Grimm is still around. You have a gun, but I don't. I need you to watch the skies for it while I kill this one." Jaune explained to his partner.

If they both ganged up on the Major, chances are that the airborne Grimm would pick them off with their backs turned.

Not to mention that Jaune has no way of engaging in long range combat.

With slight reluctance, the redhead nodded in acknowledgement. She couldn't come up with any arguments to counter that. Besides... she needs to have some faith in Jaune and believe he can do this.

Pyrrha holstered her shield as she switched her spear into its rifle form as she scanned the skies for the unknown Grimm. She spotted a figure in the air before it nosedived below the roof of tree leaves.

The redhead tensed as she heard the sounds of tree branches falling to the ground, forcing her to turn her attention to the source of the sounds.

Something swiftly passed through the edge of the clearing unhindered, making a beeline towards Pyrrha. Her eyes widened at the speed before she ducked to avoid what looked like a blade. Pyrrha turns around and lets loose some rounds, only for the attacker to land feet first onto a tree before it sprung to the side to evade the bullets.

The three humans now got a proper look at the entity when it perched on one of the branches, but were left in confusion of what it is.

"W-what the hell is that thing!?" Cardin voiced their thoughts in panic.

The newcomer was a cross between a human and a bird. It stood a foot taller than Pyrrha and looked humanoid with its slender frame aside from the bird-like features.

It had hind legs and talons for feet with bone armor coming just below its knees. The head had a mask of bone armor just like any other Grimm, but this one is formed in the shape of a hawk with black wispy feathers at the back. The chest area is clad in armor along with its arms which are coupled with claws. At its tailbone lays some black tail feathers.

The most striking feature was the pair of wings being twice as long as its forearms protruding from said forearms. There also seems to be a sharp blade on the edge of its wings.

Pyrrha just realized what its intentions were when it charged at her. The creature's wings were at the same level as her neck, which would imply it aimed to decapitate her before she could react.

Good thing she was getting adjusted to Luffy's speed in Second Gear.

"I think I'll just call it a Harpy, even though they're fabled to have the face of a woman." Pyrrha named the Grimm, now known as the Harpy.

"If you say so. That thing looks really fast and nimble. It would be worse if it could fling its feathers at you like the Nevermore." Jaune said, causing Pyrrha to widened her eyes in alertness.

Just like he said, the Harpy cawed before swinging its arms. The action created a small volley of feathers rained down on the Mistral fighter, to which she evaded by rolling to the side. Jaune chuckled sheepishly as Pyrrha scowled at him.

He just had to jinx it, didn't he.

Luckily, the spread isn't as wide ranged as the Nevermore's, but she'd do well to avoid taking one anyway.

Realizing that he took his attention of the Major, Jaune turns his head to see the beast attempt to pound him. The blonde was startled as he jumped back before he charged at it upon landing.

The Ursa Major jumped clear over Jaune, proving that it is far more mobile. The boy was caught off guard by this until he felt a slash on his back, sending him rolling across the ground.

Jaune righted himself mid-roll as he stood back up.

Great mobility and hits like a truck... yeah, perfect combo for something of that size.

The two stood still, waiting for other to make a move. Deciding that nothing will get done by just analyzing each other, Jaune lets out a war cry before rushing towards his opponent.

* * *

"Come on, Weiss! We already did what we're supposed to do. Can we please hunt some Grimm? Pretty please~." Ruby begged with her puppy dog eyes, earning no response in return.

The heiress' eye twitched in annoyance as Ruby continued to pester her like a little kid. She's been acting like this ever since they left the onyx haired duo, and it's starting to drive her up the wall.

"I don't see a problem. We did get the jars of sap, and Blake handed me hers before she found Luffy." Yang gave her approval on the matter.

They got what they needed, and there was still some time before the trip was over. It was only a matter of time until Weiss relents to Ruby's desire to hunt.

The white haired girl lets out a sigh in exasperation as it turned to a two on one.

"Fine... once those two come back, we'll comb through the forest _once_." Weiss surrendered while pinching the bridge of her nose.

Ruby cheered at the thought of finding some Grimm prowling around. Hopefully Glynda didn't slaughter all of them.

Yang clapped her hands together and offered a prayer.

"Oh gods. If you can hear me, please bring Luffy and Blake to us as soon as possible." the blonde prayed, earning a scoff from Weiss.

The trio returned to their starting point to find Ren and Nora just standing around. The two seem to have a worried expression, which is surprising to see from the hyperactive girl.

Even though she didn't believe it would come true, Weiss looked around to find no signs of Luffy or Blake.

"I'm sorry, Yang. But it seems like your prayers-" Weiss was cut off from finishing her sentence when Luffy cratered the ground upon landing in front of them.

"We're back, guys!" Luffy cheered as Blake slowly climbed off of him. She was a little shaken up by the sharp drop when Luffy told her they were going to land. The hidden faunus didn't realize that Luffy had no such plan for a softer descent.

The heiress blinked owlishly at them, knowing that Yang had a shit eating grin behind her.

"Hey Weiss, my prayers were answered." Yang noted smugly. Weiss glowered at her teammate for rubbing it in.

Ignoring the exchange, Ruby looked worriedly at Blake who was stiff from the scare.

"Uhh, Blake? Are you alright?" she asked.

"Y-yeah... just had to hold on to dear life as I felt my beating heart try to leap out of my throat." Blake assured her as she tried to calm her heartrate down. Ruby winced as she gave a silent apology for Luffy's recklessness.

Not a bright idea for first time flyers.

Luffy looked around the place as he placed his two jars of sap near the rest, but found no signs of Jaune or Pyrrha.

"Where's Jaune and Pyrrha?" the straw hat boy asked the other two members of team JNPR. The two debated on telling the one that was most likely being a target of Cardin's vengeance, but decided to tell him.

It's not like they were supposed to keep it a secret, anyway.

"Jaune was under the assumption that Cardin was scheming something against you. So the two went to investigate." Ren informed him.

"But it's been so long since they left. It's taking every bit of my willpower to not eat any of the sap." Nora complained, only to lunge at one of the jars. Ren foreseen this and held the jar away from her while keeping the glutton at bay with his other hand.

A bellowing roar was heard in the distance by the group, putting them on guard. Some more than others...

"Finally, some stupid Grimm to kill! Lets go find it, Ruby." Luffy offered, to which she agreed wholeheartedly as she unfolded her scythe. The rest sweatdropped at their eagerness.

Before they could move, the members of Cardin's team darted out of the brush in panic.

"There's a huge Ursa!" Russel shouted as he ran, only for Yang to stop him.

"Where?" she asked in urgency, seeing as there are three missing students that aren't with them. Russel pointed back to where they came from with a shaky hand.

"Back there, and it's got Cardin!" he told them. Ren and Nora looked to each other, mentally thinking that their friends are caught up in this.

"You left Shardin with a big bear?" Luffy presumed calmly, causing the mohawk man to stiffen. He already took notice that their leader isn't with them, showing that their leader somehow fell behind.

Everyone turned to him as he leveled a glare on Russel.

Luffy grabbed him and pulled him down to make eye contact, his glare still present.

"W-what else were we supposed to do? We can't fight something like that." Russel argued, but yelped when Luffy's grip got tighter.

"That's no excuse to leave your own comrade behind!" Luffy shouted at the man before releasing him. Russel only continued his previous attempt to run to safety. The others were left stunned as he lectured the coward.

"As much as I would like to see Luffy tear them a new one, we need to hurry. There's something flying around, and I know it's not a Nevermore." Blake informed them.

The thought of two Grimm fighting together seems to fill them with dread.

"Ren and Nora. Get professor Goodwitch," Ruby ordered in Jaune's place.

"We'll go with them." Yang stated as she gestured to Blake and herself.

Ruby nodded before looking over Luffy.

"Lead the way since you can tell where they are. BUT..." she emphasized to make sure Luffy knew it was important. The others were curious as to what she wanted to tell him.

"I call dibs on the flying Grimm." Ruby claimed.

Her claim to kill the Grimm caused everyone except Luffy to facefault.

"Why does it matter _who_ kills it!?" Weiss berated.

"Because I'm so freaking bored!" Ruby snapped at her partner, causing the heiress to flinch at the high volume invading her ears.

After a bit of thought, they realized just how little they fought Grimm. The young leader must've been feeling very anxious about using her Crescent Rose to slice Grimm in two.

All they have ever done was train and spar, but it doesn't allow Ruby to actually let loose.

"Alright, I'll let you have it." Luffy agreed without so much as an argument.

He already got to kill the gorilla Grimm in initiation, so he would let someone else have their fun.

His cousin beamed at the approval before Luffy sprinted through the woods, causing her to start tailing him with Weiss in tow. Everyone else took that as their cue to accomplish their tasks.

Ren and Nora were already ahead of the other two, seeing as it is a matter of getting help to their teammates as soon as possible.

"So, how was your trip through cloud nine?" Yang asked with a teasing grin as she wanted to make small talk. Blake rolled her eyes at the question.

It didn't take a genius to tell how they arrived.

"Scary, but the view made up for it." she simply answered. The view was incredible, but it was frightening when you could slip off and fall.

"Sweet." was all Yang could say.

Things fell back into silence as Yang contemplated on what to talk about before they find Glynda.

"Did you talk to him about anything?" Yang urged on.

"Not really. He just mentioned Mt. Corvo, that's all." Blake told her.

"Oh, that place. I honestly don't know why his grandpa thought it would be a good idea to have mountain bandits raise him." Yang muttered offhandedly, causing Blake to quirk a brow in confusion.

Luffy grew up with a group of mountain bandits even though he still had his grandpa.

...What?

"Like... if you want him to be a marine so badly, then why have him live with a bunch of criminals?" Yang ranted to herself in irritation, questioning the old man's logic.

"Why couldn't he just live with his grandpa?" Blake inquired as her curiosity perked up again.

"First off, he's a Vice Admiral of the marines. And secondly... Luffy is scared of his grandpa." Yang said plainly. Blake was stuck in disbelief at the statement.

"The one person that we know that can stare down against creatures that want to end humanity without fear... is scared of his own family?" Blake stated in a dry tone. Yang chuckled sheepishly at the statement.

"Honestly, I'd be scared of him too if he nearly killed me on so many occasions. As a seven year old no less!" the blonde commented. At the very least, she does understand a little of how Luffy ended up with his endless will to live.

Yang looked over to her partner to see that she's simply dumbstruck.

"Insanity must run in the family." Blake muttered with Yang nodding in agreement. She'd rather leave the close death experiences out of her mind to save herself from the cruel imagery.

One things for certain... it's something that a little kid shouldn't be thrown into.

A sudden realization hit Blake as she thought about his family lineage. His grandpa is what she would assume to be a high ranking officer of the military in his world, and his father leads an anti-government faction.

'That is one hell of a lineage.' she thought to herself. Although it might be a bit of an understatement in her opinion.

* * *

Things have been going back and forth for Jaune and Pyrrha.

The boy was barely managing to evade the heavy swings from the Major, but not lucky enough to land some hits of his own.

The same thing could be said about Pyrrha's fight since the Harpy keeps using swift hit-and-run tactics to make sure she couldn't counterattack. Every time it passed through, Pyrrha is forced to evade with barely any time to attack back as the Harpy enters the foliage and out of sight.

Cardin was busy hiding behind a tree as he lost his nerve.

The Major Ursa did a low sweep with its paws to try and trip Jaune. He jumped over the swing easily, but had to raise his shield as he received a heavy hit while he was stuck in the air. Jaune flew across the field until he slammed into a tree, splintering it.

The boy stood back up, although his legs were feeling weak. Given that the Grimm never show signs of fatigue, he wasn't going to last much longer.

The Ursa didn't make a move, almost as if it was taunting him.

Jaune risked a glance over to his teammate to find out that she's having a hard time herself. But Pyrrha is starting to react faster as the battle drags on.

The very moment that she heard a rustling sound, the Mistral fighter turned to the source to find the Harpy making another pass with its wing blade. Pyrrha takes a few shots, but the Harpy barreled around them without losing speed.

The redhead leapt over the creature before she took her shield and threw it like a frisbee, making contact with its lower back. The Harpy cawed in pain before it started tumbling across the ground. It got back up on all fours as it contemplated its next move, its stare filled with rage.

It swung its arms to launch another volley of small feathers. Pyrrha deftly deflected some of them with her spear, but some of the strays carved into the tree Cardin was hiding behind.

The bully could do nothing but scream like a girl as the projectiles buffeted his hiding spot, causing the two to sweatdrop at the not so manly reaction.

After the volley was over, Pyrrha was left unprepared for the sudden charge from the Harpy. Its clawed hand was stopped by her spear as it tried to clamp it around her throat.

'It figured out a bypass through Aura!?' she thought as she struggled to keep the appendage at bay.

Even if it protects you from physical blows, Aura can't protect you from suffocation.

The Harpy's hand was slowly pushing ever closer to her neck so it could squeeze the life out of her. For a Grimm with a slender body, it sure has some surprising strength.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune called out in panic. His mind was racing with any feasible way to bail her out. He failed to realize that he left himself wide open for the Major Ursa to attack.

Just as the bulky arm descended upon the blonde, a wall of ice sprung up between the two. The defensive wall held as it took the brunt of the blow.

"Wha-?" Jaune looked baffled by the sudden appearance. A gunshot was heard before the Harpy cawed in pain, the bullet nailing into the holding arm's bicep.

The struggle faltered, giving Pyrrha the chance to push it aside and stab at the Harpy. The creature tilted its body to dodge the pointy weapon and hopped away from her.

The humanoid bird Grimm turned angrily at the intruders to find Ruby, Weiss, and Luffy. Ruby immediately rushed at it with her semblance while her scythe was prepped for a swing, forcing the Harpy to back away and fly up to a branch.

"Are you two alright?" Ruby asked as she kept her gaze on the Harpy. Pyrrha and Jaune nodded their heads while the redhead recovered from the power struggle.

"We heard Jaune scream earlier, we thought you guys were in trouble." Luffy stated, causing Jaune to quirk a brow in confusion. The straw hat boy would know that kind of scream anywhere.

It reminded him of all the times that Jaune desperately tried to avoid his punches during their training.

"I did?" Jaune asked as he racked his brain to recall ever doing that.

The only scream that he could remember was... Cardin's. Jaune widened his eyes as he realized their mistake. He was about to speak up, but Weiss spoke first.

"I don't think Pyrrha would have such a feminine scream like that, so it had to be you." Weiss narrowed down the possibilities. Pyrrha widened her eyes at the misunderstanding and decided to speak in her leader's defense.

"You got it wrong. That was Cardin that screamed, not Jaune." Pyrrha corrected them.

Unfortunately, it failed to convince the two.

"It's alright, Pyrrha. You don't have to try so hard to protect him from embarrassment." Weiss comforted her, except it had the opposite effect.

Pyrrha winced when she saw Jaune hang his head in depression, as if he just gave up on the argument. Only the three of them know the truth, although Cardin would deny the claim.

The sounds of the ice wall cracking brought them back to their main problems.

Right, they still had two Grimm to deal with.

Luffy and Ruby finally focused their attention on the appearance of the new type of Grimm perched on the tree branch.

"Awesome! That thing kind of looks like that snow bird lady!" Luffy noted with starry eyes as he recalled Monet. The only differences were the face and the clawed hands in which the snow woman didn't have.

Ruby turned to Pyrrha with starry eyes, as if begging to take the fight off her hands.

"Can I kill this one?" she asked cheerfully, earning a sweatdrop from Pyrrha for her enthusiasm.

"Uhh... sure, I guess. From what I gathered, it's like fighting a small Nevermore that doesn't shy away from close combat. It also has some experience fighting people with Aura, seeing that it tried to strangle me instead of tearing down my Aura." Pyrrha informed her fellow redhead.

It discovered an efficient method of killing someone that has a protective Aura at their disposal, and it will possibly try to use that knowledge again.

Ruby nods her head in acknowledgement before she approached the Harpy.

"So that just leaves us with that?" Weiss wondered, gesturing to the Major Ursa getting close to breaking through their defensive barrier.

"I'm still its opponent." Jaune declared, not willing to back down from his one on one duel. Weiss was about to rebuke the idea until Luffy stepped in.

"That's fine. You don't have to worry about Pyrrha now. Just worry about the enemy in front of you." Luffy advised as he agreed to letting him fight on his own along with Pyrrha, to which Jaune smiled back in gratitude.

In all honesty, Jaune was very worried about the battle. Not only did they have a strong Ursa, they also had to deal with a Grimm with an unknown behavior. It was Pyrrha's first time fighting a Harpy as well as his if he fought it, so they wouldn't really know what to expect from it.

All this caused him to lose focus on his own fight and nearly died.

A new feeling of adrenaline sparked in Jaune as the Ursa shattered the ice wall keeping them apart.

He rushed towards the huge bear, feeling a bit faster than normal. The Major slammed both of its paws down, but Jaune managed to jump on top of one of the appendages before landing a few cuts.

The Ursa swung its arm to rid itself of the pesky blonde, to which Jaune righted himself before landing as the beast charged at him.

Instead of a frontal assault, the Ursa jumped over him and clung to the tree behind him. Its heavy weight knocked over the tree, but not before it leapt off of it.

"Figured you would try to do that again." the knight muttered as he dive rolled to avoid the crushing body slam. Before the bulky Grimm could get up, Jaune plunged his sword into its elbow, causing the Ursa to roar.

With all of his strength, he tightly grabbed the pommel before he twisted his sword while its still buried in its limb. This resulted in a sickening squelch and an agonizing wail from the creature.

Pyrrha and Weiss felt a shiver go up their spine while Luffy just stared on passively.

"Wow, he broke its arm with his sword. He's stronger than he looks." Luffy pointed out the obvious, making the two feel nauseous.

Even if it's a Grimm, it didn't save them from the imagery of having your joint wrecked like that.

Jaune pulled out his weapon, unfazed that he caused a disturbing wound.

The Ursa attempted to swat him with its only working arm, only for Jaune to jump back. It spun around and backhanded the boy with its limp appendage, sending him skidding across the ground.

Jaune panted heavily as he stood back up, holding a staring contest with the Major Ursa. The bear's broken arm dangles limply like a noodle.

The sight is forcing Pyrrha to use every ounce of willpower to hold herself back from assisting him. Luffy seems to take notice of her anxiety.

"Don't worry, Pyrrha." the said redhead turned to him.

"He's not going to lose. He won't let himself stumble here." Luffy reassured her, causing Pyrrha to smile at the amount of faith he has towards the blonde.

"Aren't you concerned about Ruby?" Weiss inquired.

Speaking of which, it seems as though Ruby took her battle within the forest judging by the sounds of gunfire, possibly using the trees to her advantage.

"Not at all. I believe she can do it. Ozzy brought her here early, so he must think that she's strong enough to take on that new Grimm." Luffy reasoned with a toothy grin.

The two sweatdropped at his logic. Sure, early attendance to Beacon may speak volumes of her skills, but it might be too much to assume that she can take down an unknown Grimm on the first try.

The Ursa took its chances and charged toward the blonde in what seems like a final attempt to kill him.

"I won't let you stop me here. Not when I'm just at the beginning of my reformed ambition." Jaune declared as he glared at his foe. His will was subconsciously projected outward in the form of a familiar, yet sporadic wave that was felt by everyone present.

Luffy's eyes widened in shock of the sensation while Pyrrha and Weiss were left in confusion. Cardin passed out on the spot. The Grimm slowed to a halt as it stared at the boy curiously.

Luffy is very certain of what it is since he felt it time and time again with every clash.

 **Haoshoku Haki** ( _Color of the Conqueror King_ )

His gaping face morphed into a face-splitting grin at the shocking revelation. Granted it's not incredibly powerful, but it proved enough to be noticed by the Major Ursa.

The distraction gave Jaune the ample time to rush in and slide between its legs. He quickly turned around and jumped on the creature's back, using the spike protrusions to hold on.

The Ursa started to flail around in order to throw him off, but to no avail as Jaune held strong.

'Come on. All it takes is one good idea, and you're as good as dead.' he thought to himself hopefully. It was only a matter of time until the Grimm decided to do a very obvious maneuver, given its size.

The large beast jumped and tilted its body with the intention of crushing the blonde knight between it and the ground.

This proved to be the lucky break Jaune needed as he scaled its backside until he reached its shoulders. He sprung off the shoulders and pointed his sword down towards the Major Ursa.

Now the positions have been switched with Jaune looming over the bear Grimm instead of the other way around.

Just as the Ursa crashed onto the dirt, Crocea Mors pierced into its throat. It lets out a death cry before it went limp.

The corpse evaporated shortly after, leaving an exhausted Jaune standing.

"Shishishi, that was awesome Jaune!" Luffy encouraged, breaking the silence. Weiss stood stunned at how the he actually managed to pull it off. Pyrrha gave a soft smile at his triumphant victory.

They rushed to his side as his adrenaline subsided, sudden fatigue washing over him. Pyrrha caught her partner before he collapsed.

"I... feel... so tired." Jaune panted. Wanting to get answers about the recent events, Weiss began to inquire the boy.

"Where in the world did you get that kind of strength? What was that you just did to make it stop in its tracks?" Were some of her questions, although the blonde seems to be too tired to answer them.

"Look, Weiss. Let him at least rest up before we ask him anything." Pyrrha requested for his sake. He just finished fighting for his very life and was in no condition to talk at the moment.

The heiress sighed as she accepted this, only for one of the questions to be answered by someone else.

"Conqueror Haki." the raven haired boy said, garnering the two girl's attention.

"Jaune unlocked Conqueror Haki. That's how he stopped that bear. He just didn't realize that he did." Luffy informed them, shocking the three.

"That would explain the pressure I felt earlier." Pyrrha recalled the experience. The boy's body went limp from exhaustion, forcing the redhead to lay him down with his head resting on her lap.

"We'll check up on Ruby, okay? The others should be here soon." Luffy told her, earning a nod. Luffy and Weiss left the clearing in search of the young leader who is possibly still in combat.

Pyrrha watched them vacate the area for a bit before looking down on her sleeping leader. She brushed some stray hair with a tender hand.

'I really need to step it up. I've been too easygoing as of late. If those three hadn't shown up...' Pyrrha thought grimly with a frown.

Her confrontation with the Harpy proved that much to her. She was overconfident in her abilities, and that almost got her killed. If she wants to be the best that she can be, then she needs to start putting in a 110% into improving herself.

After all, she also desires to defeat Zoro someday. Her defeats in the tournament only made her want to become as strong as him.

'Even if you don't see me as a rival, you're still the milestone that I wish to surpass.' she thought with renewed determination.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **I've decided to have the Ruby vs. Harpy fight get its own chapter, sorry for those that wanted to see that. For those that are curious about the OC Grimm's appearance, it closely resembles the harpies in WoW.**

 **I think after chapter 25 is uploaded, I'll close the story poll that's been going on since chapter 15. Which ever order it ends up as is the order I'm sticking with.**

 **Please leave votes and reviews for feedback.**


	22. Trouble is Afoot

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 22**

Gunshots rang out through Forever Fall as Ruby tried to get a hit on the ever evasive Harpy. The slender Grimm used some of the trees dotting the area as springboards to close in on the redhead while maintaining evasive maneuvers.

It swung its arm, but only to swing its wing blade instead of releasing a volley of feathers.

Ruby intercepted with her scythe, but was coerced into defending herself by twirling her weapon around to fend off the onslaught of the Harpy's wing blades. An opening revealed itself and the girl tried to take the offensive.

A talon caught the shaft before the attack connected, shocking the girl for the quick reaction.

Taking Crescent Rose into both talons, the Harpy took flight with Ruby desperately clinging to her sweetheart.

The feathery Grimm front flipped once before it hurled Ruby to the ground back first. The crash forced a pained gasp to escape her lips.

Fighting through the pain, Ruby used her semblance to clear out of the way for the Harpy as it tried to slam its talons on her.

"No wonder why Pyrrha had such a hard time." Ruby mumbled, taking note of its strength.

It's shown to have some deceiving strength and incredible speed, and it doesn't really have a preference as far as long or close ranged combat is concerned.

Her analysis was cut short by the sight of small feathers that she barely dodged. Ruby rushed at it before she started a scythe swinging dance. It proved futile, however, as the slender creature backpedaled out of its reach.

The Harpy took its chances and lunged forth to grab her neck. Ruby noticed its intentions and batted the arm to the side before she twirled the back end to make contact with its face. The impact caused the Grimm to barrel through the air towards a tree.

The redhead took the opportunity and switched to its compact form before taking a few shots. The Harpy righted itself and landed on the tree before launching off of it to latch onto a branch, causing the bullets to miss their mark.

The young leader gritted her teeth in annoyance of the agile beast.

The Harpy lets out a mocking caw before launching a burst of feathers from one arm before leading it into an alternation of swings that kept the barrage more consistent. The scythe wielder darted around the place, occasionally using the trees for cover.

Weiss and Luffy entered the scene of her evasion, concern laced in the heiress' gaze. Anyone could tell that Ruby doesn't have control of the battle, what with how she's is fighting tooth and nail to keep herself from getting hit.

"Are you certain that she can do this?" Weiss asked him with a bit of doubt in her voice. Luffy's expression turned serious at her tone, but nodded in response.

"I'm sure she can. You just need to start believing in her like how Pyrrha did with Jaune." Luffy noted, earning a flinch from the heiress. Somehow, she knew he was going to mention that.

"I-it's not like I'm calling her weak, it's just that I think she's biting off more than she can chew right now." she defended herself. She's well aware of her partner's skills in battle. But right now, Ruby might've met her match.

"Sometimes you have to be willing to risk everything. If we don't take those risks, how would we ever get stronger?" Luffy explained through experience.

He was usually left unprepared to fight the many opponents in his world, leaving him to adapt in the middle of the fight. Sure he lost his fair share of fights, but it didn't stop him from coming back to risk it all again.

Weiss was left in her own thoughts on the matter. She recalls the time that Luffy taught them that to be strong means to have no doubts, and now is starting to understand what he meant.

If one were to think a task is impossible, then it will be so. Ruby may be struggling, yet she seems very sure that she can accomplish such a feat alone.

The white haired girl frowned in silence, feeling guilty for not having complete faith in her partner.

In the battle, Ruby eventually leapt up to a branch and lunged forward when the Harpy halted its persisting attack. The humanoid bird ducked under a swing aimed at its neck before latching onto her ankle as she passed by. The girl found herself being hurled back through a few branches before she managed to hook her scythe on one and swing back into the fray.

Unfortunately, the Harpy just flung more sharp feathers at her. Ruby shot her sniper to the side, letting the recoil change her direction in the air.

An idea formed in her head as her feet planted onto a tree. In a flurry of rose petals, Ruby became a blur as she bounced between the many trees surrounding the Grimm.

Her legs screamed in protest, feeling more stress as the redhead kept landing on the trunks with more force. The Harpy was thoroughly confused with her erratic movements, unable to follow her with its eyes.

Out of quick reflex, the slender beast turned around and crossed its wing blades to defend itself from the young huntress. The wings caught the blade of her scythe, but the immense speed she built up forced the Harpy off its perch.

It may be fast and strong, but it's also very lightweight compared to other common species.

Ruby was disappointed in the fact that she didn't cut its head off, but she still dragged it through the air until she threw it at a stone outcrop. The crash elicited a shriek of pain from the Harpy as the stone crumbled.

Rustling noises were heard from a brush close by, gaining everyone's attention. At first, Weiss thought it might be the rest of their group.

Thinking about it more, Yang would've been hollering for them at this point so that notion was taken out.

"I don't sense anyone." Luffy noted with a quirked brow. Weiss thought about it for a few seconds until she came to a conclusion.

If he can't sense any living being from the brush, then it could only be something that isn't alive at all.

Grimm.

"Then it could only mean more Grimm. Ruby, stay focused on your end." the heirss stated in awareness of the situation.

Just like she thought, a pack of Beowolves and a small handful of Ursai entered the scene.

"At least this gives us _something_ to do." Weiss muttered as she drew Myrtenaster. Luffy chuckled at this as he cracked his knuckles.

"Yup! Lets keep them from interfering with Ruby." he said, earning a nod from Weiss. They steeled themselves before they charged at the cannon fodder.

Ruby beamed at them for securing her duel. Not only that, Weiss is actually getting along with him compared to the first few days they met.

Score one point for Luffy's unexpected charisma.

Her reminisce was cut short by a rage filled shriek. Ruby turned her attention and glared at the source.

Her legs were slightly shaking from all the intense work she put them through, leaving her to reserve her semblance for the killing blow.

Both opponents rushed at each other with great speed, with the Harpy prepping to pass by with its wing blade and Ruby holding Crescent Rose behind her.

The redhead smirked when they were about two meters apart from meeting as she decided to slide under the blade while rotating her scythe so the curved blade is vertical.

Right before the weapon made contact with the Grimm's shoulder, Ruby pulled the trigger to fire the sniper half. Two fast objects heading towards each other combined with the fact that the shoulder was unarmored made the desired result easier to achieve.

The beast lets out a cry of agony as its arm was severed, causing it to fall to the ground. Ruby felt satisfied with the permanent damage she left.

'Now it only has one wing, which means no more flying, one less blade, and less feathers to shoot.' Ruby cheered as she took note of the advantages she gained.

The most the Harpy can do now is try to cut her with its one wing, fling a small number of feathers, or use its talons to grab or kick her.

Far less options than before.

Feeling more confident in her chances, Ruby gives one final charge to end this.

The Harpy bided its time until the human got close enough. The time arrived as it launched a small volley of feathers at her.

Ruby knew she couldn't dodge them with how close they are, so she had to make a risky move. Using her semblance, the scythe wielder took a huge leap while attempting to squeeze her body through the volley.

All of the concentration at that very moment made her move forward without any proper shielding from Aura.

Ignoring everything except her main target, she pushed through the barrage of feathers and took a swing assisted by a sniper shot.

The Grimm tried to block the swing, but with one wing the scythe got under its guard with ease. The curved blade glided through the unarmored midsection, effectively bisecting the Grimm and killing it.

Ruby was left lightly panting as she gave a quick glance behind herself to see the corpse dissipate.

" **Gomu Gomu no Champion Rifle** "

The sound of her cousin's voice brought her attention to them, only to see Luffy slam a spiraling fist encased in ice against an Ursa Major. At the same time, Weiss just finished off an Alpha Beowolf by piercing through its head with her rapier, covered in what looks like a heat haze.

The ice shattered after it landed a hit, with Luffy rubbing his freed hand to warm it up.

"Man, my arm is freezing." Luffy stated before reaching out to the rapier out of curiosity for the haze. His hand flinched back when he felt it burn him, causing the heiress to jerk her weapon away.

"You're the one that wanted me to trap your arm in ice. And don't touch this, the blade is incredibly hot to the touch." Weiss scolded him as she deactivated the fire Dust, thus ridding the rapier of its hazed state.

After some experimentation, she figured that if Soul Solid can have a freezing blade from ice Dust then it could work with heat as well. Given enough time, the heated rapier can transmit enough heat into metal so her weapon can pierce through it.

"Now you tell me." Luffy pouted. They both turned to Ruby, only for their expressions to morph into slight worry.

"You dolt! You just had to get yourself hurt." Weiss ranted, leaving Ruby confused. She felt something wet go down her cheek, to which she wiped off in order to inspect it.

Blood.

Surely enough, she didn't slip through the feathers unscathed. Cuts can be found on her left cheek, right arm, right thigh, and left shoulder. She must've ignored the damage when she focused on only killing the Harpy. After looking at her wounds, Ruby just shrugs it off as if it wasn't a big deal.

"The bleeding's not that bad." Ruby said calmly. The cuts were a bit superficial. Sure they look bad, but it wasn't like she was bleeding out. A good bit of Aura healing and she'll be good to go.

'Besides, this is nothing compared to... _that_ night.' Ruby thought solemnly, remembering the amount of blood loss Luffy suffered for their sake on that fateful night.

While Luffy was left with a physical scar, the sisters will always bear a mental one. Qrow and Taiyang would sometimes link her trauma as one of the causes of her occasional maturity seeing as a small part of her innocence was gone.

No child should have to witness that much violence.

"Severe or not, it could get infected." Weiss reprimanded her.

At that moment, the rest of the students met up with them with Glynda in tow. Team CRDL were hanging back, fretting over their still unconscious leader. Jaune seems to have woken up from his nap, seeing as he and Pyrrha are with them now. The boy still had a few bruises covering his body.

"Hey guys. Did anyone bring a jar of sap?" Luffy asked the group. They quirked a brow at the request, but someone came prepared.

"Yeah, I brought one with me on our way back." Blake said as she handed him the jar.

"Thanks, Blake. You're the best." Luffy praised her with a thankful grin.

The hidden cat faunus had a light blush at the praise as she averted her gaze away from him.

'It's not like I did anything spectacular.' she thought humbly.

Luffy walked up to Ruby while pulling out some bandages from the first aid pouch he brought with him, activating Chopper's bond so he doesn't somehow screw up with wrapping the cloth.

Qrow kinda instilled the habit to bring it along as often as his hat, seeing the need to be ready to tend to someone's wounds. Chopper would be proud.

"C-come on, Luffy. I already told you, it looks worse than it is. I can just use Aura to heal this up and I'll be fine." Ruby attempted to assure him to avoid the bandaging. She can just imagine the stinging sensation she'll get from the sap.

"Suck it up, sis. If we have bandages and disinfectant, then we should use them." Yang rebuked as she would rather use their available resources than rely on Aura. Ruby groaned in realization that those two weren't going to let her off the hook, especially with Yang going into Mama Mode.

The two moved some of her clothing aside to work with the wounds without any obstructions. Yang handled her right side, while Luffy worked on the left.

As the girl was being patched up by her two family members, Glynda was left in her own thoughts of what transpired.

The Grimm have been bold lately. First the B.K right next to Beacon, and now this Harpy. The professor fears the possibility of a congregation of high leveled Grimm close to Vale.

Either way, she's going to have to report this to Ozpin.

"At least one of us experienced a certain development." Pyrrha brought up, much to most of their confusion.

"Oh right, Jaune unlocked Conqueror's Haki!" Luffy announced with a grin, switching confusion with shock as they stared at the blonde. The sisters were in gaping shock for someone to awaken a Haki type before they did, and they started long before him.

Granted, it was a type that no one can train to unlock. Either you were born with it, or you weren't.

Said blonde was rubbing his head sheepishly at the awkward attention.

"It's not like it's very strong or anything. I don't see the big deal." Jaune played off out of embarrassment of the attention received.

"Jaune! People with Conqueror's are rumored to have the qualities of a king. It's a huge deal!" Ruby ranted about its importance. She sucked in a breath when Luffy tightened the bandage around her shoulder, to which she pouted at him for.

"A king? That's not what I want." Jaune said, surprising a few. Pyrrha silently giggled at his reaction as she already knows what he desires.

"Then what could you possibly want other than being a king?" Nora asked incredulously. She knows that she would've tried to be a queen if she had that. Jaune didn't really have to think much on his answer.

"I want to be a heroic warrior that I can be proud of being, that's all." he replied. He thought about his newfound Haki for a bit before asking the one person that's an expert on the subject.

"So... is there a special kind of training for this one, Luffy?" he asked, only to earn a 'no' from the straw hat boy.

"You have to make your will stronger yourself since it's your own spirit, but I don't think you should use it for now." Luffy instructed his fellow Conqueror user.

"Why's that?" he wondered. Is there a drawback that he wasn't aware of?

"Because when you used it, we all felt it. Even Shardin felt it, and he's knocked out." Luffy pointed out with Weiss and Pyrrha nodding, using the unconscious bully as an example. The info shocked Jaune considerably. He felt guilty for subconsciously using it on his own friends, yet he was more confused at the thought of knocking Cardin out.

"I... knocked him out. But I never won a fight against him." Jaune said in a disbelieving tone.

"Then it just proves that you have a stronger will than him." Ren surmised. While the power gap plays a part in the odds of a knockout, it's generally tackling one's will with their own based on what he gathered.

Jaune didn't really know how to feel about having this Haki type, even after all of the encouragement. Sure, it felt awesome to unlock Haki first, but does he feel worthy of having Conqueror's?

Only time can tell.

"We can save the rest of your discussion for when we return to Beacon. We'll be moving out shortly." Glynda informed them.

Luffy drooled at the prospect of the upcoming meal when they return. Blake and the recently bandaged Ruby followed his train of thought.

"Salmon?" Blake asked hopefully.

"Cookies?" Ruby asked in secretive glee.

The others rolled their eyes at the pair's obsession.

'Blakey is acting really fishy today.' Yang mentally punned with a smirk.

"Sorry, we ran out of salmon. But I can make cookies." he broke the news to them. Blake fell to her knees in depression at the loss, while Ruby squealed in excitement.

What better way to celebrate her fresh Grimm kill than with a fresh batch of cookies.

"Aww, cheer up Blakey." Yang comforted her partner by patting her back softly.

"There's more to our nourishment than fish. I'm sure you can live without them for a few days." Weiss told her, although it sounded a little harsh.

"I guess." Blake relented in a dejected tone.

Suddenly, a small herd of deer entered Luffy's sight far off in the distance. A waterfall of drool leaked out of his mouth when he sized them up. The herbivores was well above average, enough for a really filling dinner. Everyone's stared in the direction he was looking at, wondering what could cause such a reaction.

"Forgive us, Chopper. We're gonna have to grill some of your brethren." Pyrrha prayed for forgiveness as Luffy entered Second Gear so the skittish creatures can't escape.

* * *

Perona was in a very irritable mood right now. She and Zoro decided to take a quick nap after all of the traveling they've done up until now. So she brought out a few blankets while Zoro simply leaned against a tree and immediately started snoring away.

They weren't far from the dirt road that leads to a port town that would take them to Vale, just a couple more days and they'll reach their destination.

The problem arrived when she woke up from her nap and noticed that Zoro was missing. It didn't matter what reason he had for leaving the area, but one thing's for certain...

He's lost... again.

The ghost girl was floating high in the air, sending out many Negative Hollows to start her Ghost Network. They'll act as her eyes as they fanned out in search for her traveling companion.

"Honestly! Here I thought he'd be out like a light, but he woke up first. Now he's wandering around, probably going backwards." Perona ranted to herself in irritation.

 **Santoryu: Tatsu Maki** ( _Three Sword Style: Dragon Twister_ )"

The voice was faintly heard as one of her Hollows caught sight of a whirlwind carrying several bodies.

"Of course... he just _had_ to get himself into trouble." she complained in exasperation. He always had that crave for battle and it's thrills. It's almost to the point that it's scary.

Perona left a mix of Negative and Mini Hollows at their campsite to 'haunt' the place in an effort to steer the unwanted attention away. She examined the unconscious bodies on her way to Zoro, taking note of their appearances.

Each of them wore a Grimm mask along with an attire consisting of a black full bodysuit, gray vambraces, and a white vest with the tailcoat reaching down to the back of their knees. The most notable piece of their outfit was the insignia: a symbol of a Beowolf head with claw marks colored in red.

The symbol of the White Fang.

Her eye twitched at the thought of Zoro becoming enemies with the terrorist organization. This was their fourth time encountering the faunus group since they started their journey.

She proceeded to follow the trail of unconscious members until she found the green haired swordsman in an encampment that belonged to the organization. Said swordsman had three swords out and was giving the grunts a menacing look, intimidating them from approaching.

"Damn bastard! Did someone send you to exterminate us?!" one of the grunts growled out. Zoro snorted at the assumption.

"No... I was just looking for something to drink. I noticed you guys were here and thought you might have some." he explained himself for the intrusion. His liking for booze is almost on par with Luffy's obsession for meat.

He doesn't even feel threatened by them, which would explain why he just waltzed into a camp owned by a group of extremists without a care in the world.

"That's why you broke into our camp!" the White Fang grunts yelled with their eyes bugging out.

"You can blame your fate for bringing calamity to your camp." Zoro told them, with Perona sweatdropping at the statement. Like hell they're going to blame fate, not when it was simply one human that tore their base apart.

'Yeah... you said that the last three times you fought them.' she deadpanned in her thoughts. She decided to punish her companion by sending a Negative Hollow through him. The hostile forces were freaked out by the silly looking ghost that passed through their foe.

"I'm sorry I ever existed." Zoro said in depression, shocking the White Fang with his sudden negativity. The swordsman quickly recovered from the effects and glared at the ghost girl.

"Dammit, Perona! What did you do that for!?" he questioned furiously.

"For wandering off without me!" Perona argued. The grunts chose to take advantage of this farce before them and attack in unison. The devil fruit user sighs at this action before putting a hand on Zoro and activating her semblance.

The duo entered a state of semitransparency. The group charged and brought down their blades, only to strike each other. This earned several yells of pain as they stared at the two in confusion.

"Horohorohoro, you can't touch us while we're like this." Perona gloated about her semblance as she deactivated it.

Her semblance allows her to make objects as well as herself incorporeal, much like a ghost. Although it is very taxing, especially when more than one target is involved at one time.

"Oi, stop messing around. Lets just take care of them and move on." Zoro ordered. Perona scowled at him bossing her around before she complied.

Zoro prepped his swords for an Oni Giri. But instead of a normal one he generated a steam that made the blades look distorted. The grunts paled with dread as they witnessed the appearance of a cloaked demon with glowing red eyes.

It was as if the Grim Reaper bored its gaze into their unfortunate souls.

 **"Enbima Yonezu Oni Giri** ( _Charm Demon Sleepless Night Demon Slash_ )"

He surged forth and carved through everyone that happened to be in the path of the attack. The White Fang members were sent flying and into blissful unconsciousness. Zoro takes Wado out of his mouth before sheathing each of his swords.

"Tch. All these small fry can't even give me a challenge." he said in disappointment as his other two swords disappeared.

With Perona, she was weaving through each attack with ease. She countered their assault by having multiple Negative Hollows phase through each of them, causing them to fall to their knees in depression. This left them wide open for whatever she can dish out.

" **Mini Hollow** "

Round Hollows as small as her palm were produced and attached themselves to the faunus soldiers. Each of them had as many four Mini Hollows on their bodies.

" **Ghost Rap** "

She snapped her fingers, which prompted the small ghosts to explode. A few screams were heard over the sound of the blast. The victims lay unconscious, unable to continue.

"Ugh. None of these guys are cute at all... and when did you find _that_?" Perona inquired as she spotted a bottle of alcohol in Zoro's hand as he took a swig.

"When you were busy wrapping things up here. This stuff is pretty good." Zoro commented on the booze. In some other place, a certain blonde perked up, as if she sensed a pun that she would be proud of.

Even if the person didn't mean to make one.

"Y-you'll regret this." a still conscious minion said weakly. The duo turned to him, deciding to humor him.

"We'll remember your faces, and then we'll send out our strongest agents to kill you. You think you can look down on us like we're animals." the grunt sneered. Zoro's expression turned feral at the threat with great interest.

"I'll take on your best. I have a habit for gaining a notorious reputation anyway, so it doesn't matter. But it doesn't matter if you're a human or faunus. If I win, then it was out of skill. Not because of how we're born." Zoro told him.

It didn't matter to him what race or gender you were born as, anyone can be a tough opponent.

"Tch, cocky bastard. Just wait till Cipher Pol arrives to deliver the 'Dark Justice' you humans deserved." the grunt glowered, but flinched when both of their expressions morphed into seriousness.

The two didn't say anything else as they left the ruined encampment. When they finally left the premises, Zoro spoke up.

"I'd never imagine that _those_ guys would be here." he muttered. Perona nodded her head at the disbelieving news.

"But why would they be part of a terrorist group of all things?" Perona wondered. For people that once worked for the World Government, this is a drastic change for them.

"It doesn't matter. Knowing Luffy's luck, he'll somehow make enemies of them too. We need to hurry." Zoro urged on as he's walking back to their camp, drink in hand.

"Your loyalty to him is astounding... but you're going the wrong way." the ghost girl deadpanned, causing the swordsman to turn back with gritted teeth.

"Everything looks the same!" he growled, not ever admitting to his poor sense of direction. Perona sighs to herself as she starts leading them on the right path.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Please leave votes and reviews for feedback.**


	23. New Threats

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 23**

Ozpin was in the middle of organizing the report that Glynda gave out concerning a possible congregation of Grimm in Forever Fall. Not only that, word is spreading of a gang that are causing trouble in the city.

They don't seem to be only interested in the Dust like Roman or the White Fang, just anything of monetary value that they can use to earn a quick buck.

The stores that fell victim to the robbers were picked at random, each broken into on individual nights. This was causing the police force to spread their forces thin throughout the city and be easily dealt with even when they spotted the culprits.

They would even go as far as leave a mark in the form of a skull and crossbones with a red nose and cross scared eyes, just to rub it in.

'A jolly roger of a clown? They've got to be a group of pirates from the past life.' he surmised in his thoughts.

Glynda, Oobleck, and Port were waiting for a response from the headmaster, wondering what course of action he's going to take. It has gotten dark out, but they needed to decide on what to do before the next day arrives.

The congregation is getting too close to Vale, which could cause panic should this be made evident to the populace if they invade. The gang have pretty much rendered the distribution of goods futile since most of it is stolen by them.

Needless to say, they were in a situation that must be dealt with as soon as possible.

"This is quite troublesome. Our huntsmen already have their hands full with the missions given to them." Port commented on the situation. They were currently short on staff, so they couldn't send in any official huntsmen to resolve the predicaments.

"So that leaves us to send a team of students. However, the only team available would be team CFVY." Oobleck added his two cents. All of the other eligible teams in school are away on their own missions for the time being, leaving them unable to be contacted.

"They can handle one of the two, but who'll deal with the other?" Glynda argued a point, leaving them in thought of the new problem. Ozpin cupped his chin in thought of the predicament, wondering about the safest option available to them.

"Then how about this..." Ozpin spoke up, garnering the other professor's attention.

"We'll send team CFVY and Mr. Branwen to deal with the Grimm influx in Forever Fall. As for the gang, we'll send teams RWBY and JNPR." Ozpin suggested to them. They were left in astonishment at the thought of throwing in first year students on what could be their first mission incredibly early.

Normally, first years don't start taking on assignments until the next semester, and they usually follow the condition that they shadow an official huntsman.

"Ozpin... surely you don't mean to say that first year students are eligible enough to handle this." Glynda voiced her complaints.

"Our manpower is spread thin as it is. If it were any other first year teams, they would either meet death at the hands of Grimm or against ruthless criminals." Ozpin reasoned.

In his personal opinion, the two teams were far from the ordinary compared to the rest of their year. Each member has shown some form of growth, either through body or spirit.

There's no telling what the Grimm opposition could be, and the devil fruit users in Buggy's gang would leave students with no knowledge of them at a disadvantage.

"What is it you're not telling us?" she asked, figuring that there is something more. It was as if he was saying that the thugs were not ordinary people, otherwise any first year team could've handled it.

"Does this gang have any connection to this... 'incarnation' business?" Oobleck guessed with a skeptical tone. Ozpin sighed at the skepticism.

"Listen... I informed you two of this because I knew I could trust you with this information. But to answer your question, most likely." Ozpin said. One way or another, the people of Remnant are going to be well acquainted with the bizarre powers that the otherworldly individuals possess in the near future.

It's better if his colleagues know of this before it's too late. News of people with past lives would shake society to its very core should it be revealed to the world all at once, so he would ensure to take small steps by revealing this to those that are incredibly trustworthy.

Even if they might not ever believe it.

"And we appreciate your faith in us. I just find it hard to digest that someone of low intellect, who is attending our school no less, was once a person of incredible notoriety. Just how long has this been persisting?" Oobleck inquired.

As a man interested in history, he has never had any evidence of what Ozpin explained to him existing in Remnant before now. Yet Qrow has a friend that is older than Luffy and is also incarnate.

How far back in their history has all of this been happening?

"That I don't know, but what I do know is that that they're either hospitable or hostile. While our student has shown to be friendly, this gang obviously means harm to the citizens. Police reports state that they've seen things that couldn't be properly explained. This along with the fact that this symbol is more of a jolly roger shows that there is a high chance that it's the work of devil fruit users." Ozpin explained to the professors.

The three show a look of realization as to why he would send the two first year teams to deal with the criminals. Even if they have a little experience with just one devil fruit user, it was leagues better than having none at all. Glynda seems to have another thought.

"I can see the logic behind it now. But if that's the case, why not send Mr. Branwen to deal with the thugs?" she asked. In this sort of scenario, it would've been better to fight fire with fire.

"We can't always depend on him to take care of every incarnate related problem, even if it can't be helped with how few there are that know. Besides, Grimm extermination tends to become more dangerous than we would've guessed." the headmaster quickly replied.

When Grimm are involved, the initial reports usually end up skewed in terms of number and quality. If you were told to deal with a small pack, then reality would give you a horde instead.

"I see... then it's a matter of what we can do against them without his assistance. In any event, teams RWBY and JNPR seem to be growing at an alarming rate. More so with Mr. Arc and Ms. Rose." Port complimented.

By all means, the two teams could compete with some of the second year teams. Thinking back on it now, his doubts have been erased as he now believes that they can accomplish this feat.

Ozpin chuckled at the mention of the blonde. Jaune thought he could get away with the fake transcripts, but little did he know that Ozpin accepted him despite this.

For someone that started out as the weakest, he has displayed great potential. The headmaster was a little surprised that the boy was a candidate for Conqueror's Haki.

The young leader of team RWBY has also earned merit for slaying a Grimm as formidable as the Harpy on her own.

Seeing as there was nothing else to argue, Ozpin takes it as a sign of agreement from the professors as he takes a sip of his coffee.

"Since we're over this endeavor, is there anything else to discuss?" he asked. Glynda's eye twitched at the thought of a common occurrence.

"Other than the fact that at least one student with a fist print is in the infirmary at all times, I can't think of anything else worth bringing up." she pointed out in annoyance. Ozpin could only grin as he is well aware of who is responsible. Yang could also be a candidate, but something tells him it was Luffy.

Although her statement might be a bit exaggerated.

"Look on the bright side, most of those students learned a valuable lesson in humility. You can't get mad at Mr. Branwen for fighting to the best of his ability." Port defended the straw hat boy. It'd be far more of an insult if he withdrawn his strength against his adversaries.

It's fine to handicap yourself, as long as you're not holding your strength back.

Although, while some learned their lesson, it seems to be giving them the motive to improve themselves.

Namely getting back at him for the humiliation.

"You're just defending him because he actually pays attention in your class, _Moustache Guy_." Oobleck said indignantly. Port puffed his chest in pride of that fact. Out of all the classes, Luffy seems to listen in his class due to his adventurous tales.

"You're just jealous that he doesn't do that with you, _Coffee Man_. Sure he's not smart in terms of academics, but stick him in a battlefield with either Grimm or people, then he becomes a force of nature. The Berserker Kong's defeat is proof of his knack for battle." Port explained Luffy's learning method.

He doesn't do well in terms of written tests or lectures, but he's more of a hands-on learner who quickly adapts to the situation. Thus, you'll see him grow drastically stronger as the fight persists.

Glynda could only sigh as the two bickered about the boy's progress in school. They would even go as far as using the nicknames that Luffy gave them. Ozpin, for his part, was silently chuckling at the two.

Port seems to be taking the incarnate news in stride, as if it never changed much of anything. Oobleck still has some misgivings, but he's sure to come around.

'I guess we both lead an odd crew, huh Luffy.' he thought in amusement before changing the subject.

"Delving into that subject, isn't the B.K a form of altered evolution?" Ozpin inquired him, earning a nod from the round man.

"Indeed it is. While there have been sightings of Grimm in the form of a gorilla, there are rare instances where they underwent a different transformation. There are a few theories on how this happens, the most common one being Dust exposure." Port elaborated on the possible origin of the B.K. The others grimaced at the thought of Dust molding the Grimm into even more deadly creatures.

If that was the case, fire Dust would've caused the evolution of the B.K. There could be other combinations between Grimm and Dust that can prove to be problematic.

In a way, it's pretty ironic. Humanity used Dust to combat the Grimm, now the Grimm are using it to give them an edge against humans and faunus.

"Well, I suppose this meeting is over. I'm sure they'll prove their mettle once more." Port said with utmost faith for the students before taking his leave along with Oobleck. Glynda stayed behind for a private discussion with Ozpin.

"Speak your mind, Glynda." the headmaster urged her after they left, knowing that something is weighing heavily on her mind. She takes a moment in order to think on how to ask.

"Seeing as Mr. Branwen lived another life with a volatile occupation... do you think he has ever taken a life? If he has, does Ms. Rose and Xiao Long know?" Glynda asked in a soft yet uneasy tone.

Ozpin lets out a sigh as he took a sip from his coffee. That was a difficult question to answer, considering Luffy's usual demeanor.

"To be quite honest... I think he has killed someone." Ozpin told her truthfully. As crude as the assumption was, he just doesn't see the boy living through his life without dirtying his hands, no matter how pure he may be.

Glynda was left saddened at his reply. The thought of someone as cheerful as him killing someone was a hard thing to stomach for her. Hell, she and Ozpin haven't done such a thing in their lives, mostly due to the time of peace that they live in.

Before she could continue with her thoughts, Ozpin had more to say.

"While that can be the case, that doesn't mean he's malicious. Although there may have been a time where he done it out of revenge, he usually fights until they are incapable of continuing." he went into detail on the subject.

For all they know, the deaths could've been completely unintentional.

"Revenge? Him? He hardly seems the type." Glynda said incredulously. Given his personality, Luffy does not give off the feeling of being vindictive.

"You must remember that he's still human, capable of displaying emotions. He is just as vulnerable to dark emotions as the rest of us. It's nice to know you hold him in high regard, Glynda." Ozpin took note of with a smirk, much to the professor's embarrassment.

To think that she has enough respect for him to believe that he's not one to fight for something so meaningless.

"As far as his family... I would think they do know whether or not he has, given how long he's been with them. But they seem to look past that and still see Luffy as their beloved cousin." Ozpin said. It was never brought up when he spoke with Qrow, seeing as it's not something so easily discussed.

Besides, he himself believes Luffy to be a kind person by nature.

"I see..." was all Glynda could say as she accepts her answer.

"Mind you that this is all conjecture on our part. We can't be certain of the truth since we weren't there, and I'd rather not ask Luffy directly. What we can do, however, is believe that he means no ill will towards innocent people." Ozpin said sternly, leaving the conversation at that.

Glynda just nods her head in agreement before leaving for her quarters, knowing that this dark topic was filled with nothing but baseless presumptions. She came to realize that she was hung up on a past that is long gone, one that doesn't involve her.

Why did the question matter to her? It wasn't going to change the fact that she's dealing with a troublesome boy who gets excited at the mention of meat, adventure, and fighting. The stern professor lets out a sigh as she was mentally stressed from the meeting they held.

* * *

For once, Blake finally gets to engage herself in one of her favorite pastimes. One that she couldn't do because of all the schoolwork, training, and other shenanigans that occurred since she entered Beacon.

Reading.

Yang was playing a game on her scroll if the tapping noises were anything to go by. Weiss seems to be focused on studying, as usual for the strict heiress. Ruby was in the middle of changing into her pajamas.

Luffy was most likely scarfing down more of the grilled venison from their trip.

Speaking of food, there was a jar sitting on the desk labeled 'Ruby's Cookies'. Just how serious is she about her obsession?

The black haired girl had her knees bent up to cover the title of the book, seeing as she doesn't want them to know that she's reading 'Ninjas of Love'. She does NOT want any of them to either tease, judge, or get curious if they spotted it.

Blake keeps on reading, only to find herself subconsciously changing the names of certain characters in the book.

This only served to aggravate her as she realized that the lovers in the story were named 'Luffy' and 'Blake' in her mind. She shuts the book closed, knowing that the truth can no longer be denied.

'Thank you, you stupid book. You're pointing out that I actually have a crush on him.' Blake said monotonously.

She could only describe it as admiring affection. He's strong, resourceful, quick to act, and dependable even in the most dire of situations.

While he may have faults like his intelligence and childish mentality, the latter proves to have a perk to it.

That mentality allowed him to maintain a simple and straightforward attitude. He's so much of a simpleton that he ignores past events in favor of the actual goal in front of him, making his decisions easier to make.

But also like a child, he acts to the extremes. Which would explain why he tries to steal food from another person's plate.

Blake, however, is too smart to be simple-minded.

Thinking about the boy, she casts a glance at the bunk beds he crafted. The idea seemed efficient enough, but she was afraid of the original plan to use books as supports seeing as she doesn't want to sacrifice any of them.

What if she felt like reading one of the books that were used for it?

Weiss stretches her arms after a long night of studying, before she shifts her gaze to Ruby's cookie jar. She would've went for coffee, but she'll admit that Luffy's cooking never fails to disappoint.

Her partner wouldn't mind if it was just one cookie, right? They're friends, so maybe that earned some benefits.

Yang noticed the heiress' movement towards the cookie jar, switching from her game to video recording with dull eyes.

'This is gonna be good.' the blonde thought to herself as Weiss removed the lid and peered inside the container.

"Why is there an apple slice in the jar?" she wondered, catching Blake's attention. Since she's not reading anytime soon, she may as well watch the events unfold.

"It's to keep the cookies fresh a little longer." Yang answered. It was a common tip for those interested in baking cookies, using the moisture in the apples to extend the freshness of the cookies.

The two quirked a brow in surprise of the brawler's knowledge. Although it did make sense for her to know since she's the sister of a cookie lover.

Breaking out of her stupor, Weiss plucks a cookie and inspects it. After finding it to her liking, she took a bite out of the treat... at the same time as Ruby exiting the bathroom in her night clothes.

Weiss didn't know what to focus her thoughts on, the very tasty cookie or Ruby's response on catching her red-handed.

Ruby stared at Weiss, blinking a few times with a passive expression. The silence felt tense as they figured she was going to attack the heiress.

"So... how's the cookie?" Ruby finally spoke up with a calm demeanor, catching Weiss off guard with the question.

"It's... pretty good." she replied in an uneasy tone. Ruby was being way too calm about losing a cookie.

"Good. Since you already took a bite, you can have that one." Ruby beamed at her, further confusing her partner. Yang wore a guilty grin as she was still recording the exchange.

Weiss complied with a slow nod before consuming the rest of it. She made sure to savor it in a form of respect to the precious cookie. After she was sure that it's firmly in her stomach, Weiss placed the lid back while Ruby stood behind her with her arms crossed.

Everything went downhill as soon as the lid was placed.

Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss' waist before lifting her off the ground. She bridged her back and legs in an arch as she slammed the white haired girl's upper back against the floor. Weiss was very lightweight, so it wasn't that much trouble for Ruby to lift her. Especially when she wants to avenge her cookies.

It went by so fast for Weiss. In order, she was staring off in confusion as she saw the cookie jar, the ceiling, and the dorm room flipped upside down before entering unconsciousness.

The black and yellow duo stood slack jawed at their leader's punishment.

'That... was unexpected. No more T.V for her.' Yang thought as Ruby recovered from her stunt, leaving Weiss flat on the floor. She would've never guessed that Ruby watched enough wrestling shows to learn how to perform such move. She stopped recording the footage after realizing that it was still on.

This'll serve as a warning to anyone else who would dare commit the same deed.

'She's just as greedy as Luffy!' Blake thought in slight amazement. She may love fish, but it's not to the point where she'll willingly harm another person over it.

Instead, she'll hold a grudge against you.

After a bit of thought, she realized that Ruby has other skills that are useless against Grimm. Even if she was accurate, the throwing knives wouldn't be enough to pierce their tough skin. And an attempt at a suplex is out of the question for her, since she's just asking to get mauled.

Luffy and team JNPR rushed into their room with wide eyed looks after they heard a loud crash.

"Oi, what happened here!?" Luffy demanded, expecting a surprise attack that never existed. He and the others gaped at the sight of Weiss on the floor with her eyes rolled back.

"Ahh! The sloth assassins got her!" Nora yelled in panic, causing them to sweatdrop.

"No. Rubes just did a suplex because Weiss took a cookie." Yang corrected plainly, with the perpetrator nodding in confirmation.

"You knocked her out over a cookie?" Pyrrha asked incredulously while Ruby started carrying her partner to her bed.

"Yup." she responded, not feeling guilty in the slightest. She lays Weiss gently onto her bunk before tucking her in.

"Yet you don't mind sharing with Luffy?" Ren asked with a raised brow. Out of the entire group, the boy seems to be the only one allowed to eat them.

"That's different. Luffy was the one that baked them, so he has my permission to have a few. It's only fair." Ruby reasoned, earning looks of understanding from them.

Okay, she is greedy. But fair enough to let the baker have some as a result of his hard work.

"Okay..." Jaune couldn't comment on the situation, opting to return to his dorm along with his team since it's a false alarm.

"You should say 'sorry' to Weiss since that was too much." Luffy suggested to Ruby, who pouted at him.

'Says the person who beats people up for taking his food.' she kept her arguing thoughts to herself. She found herself wrinkling her nose at the smell coming from Luffy.

"Luffy, take a bath." she ordered him flatly, eliciting a groan from him. Yang perked up at the thought of him not keeping up with his hygiene.

"I already had one." he whined. Yang hopped off her bunk and tugged on his ear, causing it to stretch and give discomfort to the rubber boy.

"Yeah, but you also have bad grooming habits." Yang countered.

"I don't smell that bad." Luffy argued on.

"Our noses beg to differ, Luffy. Just take another one." Blake joined in, feeling annoyed from his constant denial.

Luffy sulked at her before dragging himself to his room.

Silence went on for a few minutes. Yang tilted her head in thought of the layout of their rooms. If she's right, Luffy's bathroom should be on the other side of the wall adjacent to Weiss and Ruby's bunk.

She wore a smirk as she looked back at Blake, who immediately became suspicious of her. Yang decided to be discreet about it and whispered her intentions.

"So Blake... you want me to make a peep hole for you?" Yang offered to the amber eyed girl while glancing back at the spot where she thinks the bathroom and their room meet. Blake seems to understand what she's getting at after a bit, resulting in a huge blush from her.

Yang was basically asking her if she wanted to peep on Luffy since he's bound to return there.

Who asks something like that in the first place?

Blake responded harshly with a thrown pillow, making contact with Yang's smug grin. Yang guffawed at Blake's response before leaving her be.

Blake could only sigh in relief of being free from the brawler's teasing. She turned to Ruby, who ignored the exchange as she was climbing up to her bunk. She barely caught sight of something on Ruby's right shoulder, forcing her to squint her eyes to focus on it. She never noticed it until now because it was always covered up in clothes.

'A small scar? Judging by the age, it looked like it was received when she was a kid.' Blake analyzed the mark. Given how small the wound was along with her size at the time, it looked like a sharp blade grazed through her shoulder just to inflict pain.

She looks over to Yang and noticed that she also has a scar, but on her left shoulder instead. Both were really faded, so you had to really focus your attention on it to see it.

What is up with their family and earning scars in their childhood?

The blonde climbs up to her bunk for the night, only for her scar to catch her attention. She tenderly traced it with her fingers, reminiscing over a small part of her childhood.

Yang frowns as she vividly remembers how they both ended up with the wound.

Back when they were kids in Patch, there was news of a serial killer in hiding. Unfortunately, the killer managed to take them by surprise and kidnap the two and bring them to a large walk-in cooler.

They were both bound by their wrists and ankles by chains, dangling from the ceiling.

Apparently, the killer was under the disguise as a butcher. While his business was legitimate, he keeps his psychotic nature under control to maintain his cover.

When he finally got to 'playing' with them, the sadist started off with showing them sharp cleavers in order to bring fear. All he could talk about was how ecstatic he felt about cutting things, much to their dread.

She can recall the satisfaction of landing a hit after swing both of their legs at him, which only angered him for the defiance. All they could do afterwards was cry out in pain as he slid the blade over the sister's shoulders. They didn't have their Aura unlocked, so it did well to draw blood.

Much like how the hero arrives to save the day, Luffy busted into the place to find them. Much to their surprise, the young boy was able to suppress the attacker just as Qrow and Tai entered.

The two were shakened after the ordeal, but it only served to show them why the world needed huntsmen and huntresses. To combat the darkness that exists around them, whether it be Grimm or people.

'Now that I think about it, that was when Luffy just unlocked his Haki. It's a good thing he did.' Yang thought. If that's the case then Ruby and Luffy were eight while Yang was ten.

The three were slightly startled by the sounds of a yelp and a crash coming from Luffy's room.

They were pretty sure he just slipped on a bar of soap like a careless idiot.

" _... I just came up with a new idea!_ " Luffy cheered, earning a sweatdrop from Yang.

The idiot seriously came up with something by slipping on soap.

"Then again, he always came up with weird ideas on the fly." Yang muttered.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Yeah... that was a little dark. But I wanted to add something to emphasize that their childhood wasn't completely filled with happiness after the incident.**

 **Think of the faculty meeting as a prologue for the next few chapters. And for those Zoro fans, I may just bring him in earlier than I planned.**

 **Other than that, be prepared for more OC Grimm and One Piece characters later.**

 **Please leave votes and reviews for feedback.**


	24. Departure

**In response to a few reviews, I never really noticed the similarities between the serial killer scene from the last chapter and the one in Fullmetal Alchemist until you pointed that out. Just saying it was an unintentional coincidence.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 24**

It was a lovely weekend for WBY. There was no work to be done and training was on hold to give them a break, so they have some free time. But one thing seems amiss in the middle of their peaceful morning.

Ruby was nowhere to be found.

Yang assumed that her sister was in Luffy's dorm, but she checked to find out that neither of them are there.

"Where could that dolt be!? I was going to demand compensation for attacking me!" Weiss shouted. The two could only look at her with half-lidded eyes.

'You're the one that took her cookie.' they deadpanned in unison. In Yang's experience, cookies transcend all reasoning with Ruby. As long as you don't eat the cookie, she won't attack you. So you're limited to restricting her consumption of them.

The door opens to reveal an exhausted Ruby wearing a red tanktop and a pair of sweatpants. She dragged herself into the room with wobbly legs, panting heavily with each step as sweat covered her body.

"Legs. Feel. Numb. Body. Needs. Rest." she said tiredly before collapsing on the floor. The three were confused from her statement as they stared at her fatigued state. Although the way she worded it made it sound like she was doing something... scandalous, which caused them to blush at the assumption.

Yang shook herself out of her dirty thoughts before deciding to ask about her whereabouts.

"Ruby, where were you so early in the morning? And while you're at it, can you give our resident princess an apology?" the older sibling asked, earning a scoff from Weiss. She heard a groan from the girl as she turned her head to face them.

"R-right, I'm sorry I performed a wrestling move on you, Weiss. I was busy training with Luffy." Ruby informed them vaguely after apologizing.

"Training? So you two were in one of the training arenas." Blake surmised, only to earn a head shake from the young leader.

"Emerald Forest." Ruby corrected, feeling strong enough to stand up at this point.

"Huh?" was all they said in unison, unable to grasp the reason. Ruby could only sigh as she has to explain in detail.

"I wanted to learn Sky Walk. But to do that, I asked Luffy how Sanji did it since he was the one that learned it. From what he told me, Sanji just kept on running until he found himself in the air." she started her story. Things began to click in the three as they figured where the forest came into play.

"So I thought I could do the same while we can have an outing, killing Grimm and whatnot. We kept on running and killing until I could barely feel my legs, so Luffy carried me back to our dorms. No luck on the Sky Walk, though." Ruby finished her short story. All of the pieces fell into place as they accepted her explanation, but one thing piqued their interest.

"You wanted to learn Sky Walk? Why?" Weiss wondered curiously.

"Because we keep running into flying Grimm. I'd thought it would be better if one of us could go high in the sky and kill it. Not only that, if I learn Sky Walk, then there's a chance I could also use Blue Walk." Ruby cheered. The black and white haired girls quirked a brow at the second technique, something that Yang noticed.

"Blue Walk is the underwater version of Sky Walk, which certainly beats swimming." Yang commented. The two had thoughtful looks, now aware of how useful either technique would be.

They're going to end up against aerial adversaries in the future, and Blue Walk sounds very efficient.

Even though they never really got close to deep water.

'She probably wants to learn that so she can save Luffy from drowning as soon as possible, even if that rarely happens.' Yang guessed one of her sister's reasons for trying to attain the ability.

With their cousin unable to swim for the rest of his life, speed is an essential part of the rescue since he tends to sink like a hammer.

"I guess I should've left a note about where I went, but thanks for worrying about me. Now if you don't mind, I feel icky and sweaty so I'm taking a shower." Ruby told them. The redhead grabbed a fresh set of clothes and entered the bathroom, leaving her teammates.

"Whew. For a second there, I thought Rubes did something else." Yang said in relief. The other two briefly blushed at what she was referring to.

"Numb legs and a tired body? I wish she was more careful with her words." Blake said in a monotonous tone.

"'Careful' is something that the dolt lacks." Weiss commented in irritation. Blake and Yang sweatdropped at the accurate assessment.

Yang's scroll started to ring, signaling that she got a message. The blonde reads the text, eyes widened as she saw it was from Ozpin. Apparently, their team was picked to carry out a mission due to the lack of personnel.

"Hey, Rubes! The headmaster wants to see us! We got a mission with JNPR and Luffy! Velvet's team are also in it." Yang called out to her sister through the door.

" _Got it!_ " was Ruby's casual response. The black and white duo perked up at the mention of an assignment.

"It's got to be urgent if he needs us now rather than wait for a team to return. I'll wait for Ruby, you guys go get Luffy ready." Weiss ordered in her partner's place. The two nod in agreement before stepping out of their room, only to be greeted by the sight of team JNPR.

"Looks like we'll be working together, huh?" Pyrrha gave a optimistic smile. Nora was bouncing off the balls of her feet in anticipation.

"I don't care if it's too early for us, I wanna break some legs!" Nora cheered like a maniac, earning an eye roll from Ren. Yang mimics her enthusiasm, feeling excited for a good fight.

"Yeah! It's about time we got some action, so lets grab Luffy and be off." Yang said as she and the others walked to the straw hat boy's dorm and opened the door without so much as knocking.

And right now, she really wished she had.

The first thing that they saw was Luffy's toned back, completely exposed as he was changing into a different set of clothes. They stared at him with wide eyes as he held up a red cardigan, unaware that he has an audience.

Thinking about it now, Luffy probably figured that they would get onto him about how he smelled like sweat like Ruby, which lead to this.

Yang paled as she had done something that she got onto Luffy about: knocking before entering. Back in Patch, Luffy would occasionally forget to knock which lead to a few mishaps. More so with Yang than Ruby.

Although she did do the same thing, just not as often.

Pyrrha's face shifted to the same color as her hair, very thankful that she didn't see the front side.

Nora froze at the sight as if her body didn't know how to respond.

Blake was busy sniffing up the blood that threatens to leak out of her nose.

The two males, however, looked at the girls with dull eyes.

Blake's sniffling caught Luffy's attention, forcing him to turn his head to acknowledge them.

"Hi guys, did you need something?" Luffy asked, not even bothered about being stared at in his birthday suit. After being butt naked in front of the Kuja Pirates even though he still didn't mind then, a small group was nothing.

"W-why couldn't you use the bathroom to change?" Pyrrha panicked with a scarlet face as she finally turned away from the sight. Luffy blinked a few times, not understanding the point.

"Because I'm the only person in the room, duh." Luffy said as if it was obvious. He wasn't sharing the room with anyone else, so it didn't matter where he changed in his opinion.

"Professor Ozpin has a mission for us. Could you... put on some boxers or something?" Jaune inquired in awkwardness. Luffy stared at the blonde in confusion.

"Boxers?" he asked in confusion. Jaune's mouth opened, but snapped shut as he figured out the problem.

Luffy doesn't wear anything underneath his shorts.

This didn't go unnoticed, seeing as Blake held a hand over her nose as a little blood squirted out.

'H-he goes commando!?' she thought as she's struggling to keep her thoughts in check.

Nora decided to finally act and slammed the door shut, cutting the show short. Luffy shrugs his shoulders before getting back to his clothes.

The girls turned to Ren and Jaune, who brushed one index finger over the other, forming a 'shame on you' gesture.

"B-but, you know that was an accident." Pyrrha argued a point, but left them unconvinced.

"Yeah, opening the door on him was an accident. Staring at him for about a minute was not." Ren countered, shocking them as he had a stronger point. Initially, it was an accident, but leaving it open was a sign of having no intention of closing it anytime soon.

"We're going to wait for Luffy's verdict. Whether he punishes you or not is up to him. Just because you're girls doesn't mean you can get away with it. _Everyone_ is bound by the laws of peeping." Jaune explained in seriousness. He lived in a household with seven sisters, so these things happen from time to time.

Whether it's him or one of the sisters is a different story.

"We weren't peeping!" Blake and Pyrrha yelled with shark teeth.

"No... it doesn't matter what we call it. What we did is basically the same as peeping. We must abide by the rules." Yang accepted as she recovered from the shock. The core concept was that they were getting a good piece of eye candy without his knowledge.

When Luffy spotted them, he had the right as a victim to administer the punishment.

"I think we're in the middle of 'blonde bonding'." Nora pointed out with a sweatdrop. The two blondes seem to have an unspoken understanding of each other. They made peeping sound like it has an honorable code.

The door opens showing Luffy in an unbuttoned cardigan and navy blue shorts while still keeping his sash, sandals, and his precious straw hat.

Blake had a look of approval at the new look, though his defined chest and abs might have some part in that.

Sure she had the pleasure of waking up the topless boy several times, but now it's something she wants to see after admitting her secret crush on him. His scar only adds more to the attraction, despite it being disturbingly painful to look at.

She was taking advantage of his shamelessness, so sue her.

"Luffy, how do you wanna go about this? Are you gonna let us off the hook for looking at you in the nude, or are you gonna give us a whack on the noggin?" Yang suddenly asked him before he could move.

Luffy stared at her blankly as he tried to process everything. The anticipation was killing them since they want to get this done and over with.

"So you're saying that I can beat you guys up for looking at me naked, just like how you and Nami did it to me?" he inquired. The others stared at the blonde accusingly, thinking she possibly had an influence on his decision.

"S-sure, i-it's only fair." Yang agreed reluctantly as she regretted ever telling him. Luffy wrapped his arm around the girls several times before dragging them inside his room.

Ren and Jaune waved their goodbyes as they witness the girls' impending doom unfold.

"All of our hate, Yang." the three girls said in unison, blaming her with annoyed stares.

"Oh shut up. I'm getting more hits for all of the other times I saw all of him. Blake, you're _definitely_ guilty with that nosebleed." Yang deadpanned, causing the hidden faunus to stiffen.

Okay, maybe she was a little too excited.

At that moment, Luffy closed the door and released them from his stretchy arm. They sat on their knees like how a student would be scolded by his/her master.

"Don't lose too much blood, Blake. Sanji nearly died because of a nosebleed. It was so bad that he needed to get blood from someone." Luffy mentioned as he recalled a memory of Sanji's near death from blood loss. The knowledge disturbed them as they never thought that something like that could result in the need of a blood transfusion.

A tickmark grew on Blake's head at the thought of being lumped in with the perverted chef.

"That's because he was a complete and utter pervert. I'm nothing like that." Blake growled out. Luffy tilted his head in confusion of her anger.

"I wasn't calling you a pervert. I was only telling you that because that seriously happened." Luffy defended, which seems to calm her down slightly.

"You're right, Blake. You're more of a closet pervert." Yang remarked smugly, which Blake glared at her for.

She's pretty sure that Blake keeps her naughty thoughts to herself, not trying to make her perversions known.

Deciding to ignore it, Luffy chuckled with a crazed grin as he began to crack his knuckles in preparation. He seems to like the newfound knowledge of punishing girls that stared at him in the nude, after all the times that it was the other way around.

The four collectively gulped at their misfortune, fully aware of his lack of restraint.

Outside of the room, Ruby and Weiss joined the two boys, curious as to what they're waiting for.

Just as they were about to ask, four loud 'POP's resounded from the other side, followed by three more after a momentary stop. A series of dull thuds were also heard.

Proverbial question marks loomed over their heads, unable to grasp what happened.

"Order... has been restored." Jaune announced with Ren nodding. The girls sweatdropped at the confusing events that transpired.

* * *

After everything was settled, they made a straight beeline towards Ozpin's office so as to not keep him waiting any longer. Team CFVY were already there by the time they arrived. The headmaster had just finished giving them the briefing of their first mission.

"I suppose that's all there is to your assignments. Now, I'm going to warn you that you will not be supervised by an official huntsman. Should this feel to dangerous for you, then just say so." Ozpin waited for a response from the first year students. If there was any other option, he would've went with that in favor of endangering first years.

While it would be ideal to take care of the gang right now, it could be held off until he had a more experienced team. In the end, it's their decision to accept and he'll will take full responsibility either way.

Looking amongst them, he sees no sign of them turning down the assignment.

"Alright...are there any questions?" Ozpin asked the group of students.

"Nope! We just got to stop them and find a way to restrain them without seastones." Ruby stated to them.

"Seastones?" the headmaster wondered curiously.

"It's this special type of material that can keep devil fruit users from having control over their powers, like they're the sea given solid form." the young leader elaborated.

There appears to be no such thing as seastones in Remnant, which brings up a problem with devil fruit users: How exactly does the law apprehend them when some can easily escape capture?

"Lets focus on one thing at a time. We haven't actually beat them yet, since we're here and all." Jaune mentioned sheepishly. Ozpin turns his attention to Luffy to see if he had complete understanding of his own mission with team CFVY.

"All we got to do is look for some strong Grimm and kill them, right?" Luffy asked rhetorically.

"That's... actually the gist of it." Yatsu admitted with a sweatdrop, not finding any fault in his description. Their objective isn't any different from the usual Grimm extermination since they're supposed to investigate the influx and handle it accordingly.

"Either way, it'd be nice to have some extra help. By the way, I'm digging the cardigan." Coco complimented on Luffy's choice of clothing, much to Blake's annoyance as it sounded like the fashionista was flirting.

Luffy wore a grin at her, not because of the compliment but for the eagerness in working with her team. He hasn't really spent much time with them after explaining the workings of his old world.

"Good to see that you understand. Now if I may ask... why do the four of you have large lumps on your heads?" Ozpin stared quizzically at Nora, Pyrrha, Blake, and Yang.

Just like he said, the four girls had steaming lumps the size of baseballs on their noggins. Tears threatened to spill as they tried their best to ignore the pain. Yang, however, ended up with four bumps for the other times in Patch.

Those punches hurt like hell.

"They barged into my room when I was changing." Luffy blurted out, much to the girls' expense. Velvet blushed while Coco was proud of their bold move after hearing this. Glynda, who was silently next to Ozpin, gave them a sharp look for their behavior.

"I'm relieved to know I wasn't present at the time." Weiss commented, only to flinch at the glares.

"Seriously? I thought it was the guy's job to peep." Fox joked with hidden amusement to their misfortune. The other males gave him dull looks, not finding the joke humorous as it sounded very demeaning to their gender.

"It wasn't- you know what, forget it." Pyrrha relented on the argument. No amount of words or apologies can change their minds.

"Right... in any event, do you recognize the jolly roger, Luffy?" Ozpin inquired as he hands a picture of the emblem to Luffy. His eyes widened upon seeing it, indicating to Ozpin that he does know.

"Yeah. It's Buggy and his crew." Luffy informed with a grin.

Their relationship is best described as friendly, but antagonistic. While he knows that the two are against each other, there were times when they worked together. Little did he know that Buggy was using his naïve nature to benefit his own needs.

"Buggy? Wasn't he one of the first pirates you've beaten?" Ruby wondered, earning a nod from Luffy.

"So they're devil fruit users?" Ren asked, seeing as they need to know as much about their foes as possible.

"Yeah. Buggy ate the Chop Chop fruit, so he can't get hurt from blades and also separate his body. Mr. 3, Alvida, and the rest of his crew are probably with him too." Luffy tilted his head in thought of their opposition.

Other than the professors present, the group gaped at the unfair devil fruit that the clown pirate possesses. Even though he sounds weak if he was one of the straw hat boy's first opponents in his journey, the fact that most of Remnant's weaponry are blades gives him an advantage.

Yang and Nora stared at each other with knowing looks, thinking they have the best chance with their blunt attacks. Granted, bullets may also have an effect.

"Mr. 3 ate a fruit that turned his body to wax, and it can be shaped into anything he wants. I miss that awesome wax armor!" Luffy explained another D.F user, though was lost in thought of a memory of having each limb encased in wax in order to fight Magellan.

Everyone sweatdropped at his change in demeanor.

'Wax? So we're speaking of a walking candle stick.' Weiss thought, feeling the gears in her head turning as a few counters to the ability formed.

"Then there's Alvida. She was a fat lady at first, but she changed after eating the Slip Slip fruit." Luffy went further. Most of the girls had jealous looks as they figured out how the woman changed.

"That's not fair! She slipped the fat off her body." Nora stated everyone's observation. Professor Goodwitch could only sigh softly at their obvious desire for an attractive figure.

"That also means that physical attacks slip off of her." Glynda noted in exasperation, trying to keep the conversation on track.

Luffy remembered that he wanted to show everyone something that he nearly forgotten about. Right now was a good time to bring it up since they finished talking about Buggy's crew.

"Umm, there was one more member of my crew I haven't told you about. But he's not part of my semblance either." Luffy casually brought up, leaving the others in shock of another member of the Straw Hats.

"And you forgot to bring him up until now? For shame, Luffy." Yang teased, knowing exactly who he's talking about.

Luffy flinched at the teasing as he felt guilty for failing to remember. Especially when that said crew member has done so much for him before joining.

He fishes out a folded piece of paper and then unfolds it to show them. Everyone was baffled at _what_ the person is. Once again, the drawing was done in black and white like the rest of his crew members.

The crew member is rather large with a stocky build and a face that could be mistaken as a demon from a foreign culture. The eyebrows, sideburns, and tusk-like lower fangs support this notion. He also has a bulb-like nose, lower lips that are angled pointing upwards, and a lightning shaped scar on the left sideburn that reached his eye.

His hair was black with two long stripes of a brighter color starting from his forehead and trailing down his back. There was also a topknot and a tuft of hair on his chin.

His attire consisted of a kimono with leaf patterns held together by an obi, a black coat, and a pair of geta. With careful observation, they noticed that his hands and feet are webbed, and gills were spotted on his shoulders.

"This is Jimbei, a fishman." Luffy introduced the drawing to the audience. Many quirked brows were met at the term.

"Fishman? Don't you mean a merman?" Jaune asked quizzically as he tried to make sense of it. Yang sighed at the misunderstanding, though she can't blame him since it took a while for her to understand the difference.

"No, no. Fishmen are fish-like humans, while merfolk have fish tails." Yang gave a notable difference between the two.

"Fishmen always have feet. Mermaids can have feet when they're thirty years old." Ruby added. The others gave a drawn out 'oh' as the info suck in.

"I never really thought of asking, but did you really become the Pirate King with just the ten of you?" Velvet asked incredulously. She couldn't find any feasible way for ten people alone to compete against the entire world.

Little does she know that Luffy picked a fight with the World Government when his crew was at six members, including himself. All in order to save their seventh member.

"Oh, I had help from a lot of other friends." Luffy answered vaguely, causing confusion to the rabbit faunus.

"He means that there was also the Straw Hat Fleet, with Luffy as the boss. Then there was also Law, or Tra-guy as Luffy calls him by." Ruby clarified with a giggle, knowing that Luffy doesn't like being called their boss. Velvet seems satisfied with that answer, picturing that a fleet has a greater chance than one ship of ten people.

"I'm not their boss!" Luffy shouted at his cousin in annoyance, leaving them stupefied at his statement. Although Ozpin looked like he was relishing in the amusement that Luffy refuses to be the grand captain.

"It's a high honor to be the grand captain of your own fleet. You have followers that have sworn their allegiance to you, and you decided to not take such responsibilities?" Weiss ranted as she shook him by the collar of his cardigan.

"Hey, ease up on the nice cardigan." Coco chided the heiress, causing her team to sweatdrop at her concern for the piece of clothing.

"I didn't want to be someone important! I just wanted to be the Pirate King, that's all!" Luffy argued his point loudly. Blake understood what he meant after recalling the short flight the two had over Forever Fall.

"Your freedom is a higher priority than being some big name in the world." Blake realized, earning a beaming look from Luffy.

"See, someone gets it! You guys are just too dumb to understand." Luffy insulted them before laughing. He was met with two hits on the head for his insolence, courtesy of Weiss and Coco.

"In case you didn't know, some of us didn't know that about you!" Weiss yelled at him.

"Hell, we never really got the chance to talk to you!" Coco reasoned as she was gesturing to her team. How were they supposed to know his personal opinion when they hardly knew him.

After all was said and done, Yang turned her gaze to the illustration of Jimbei.

"So he's the one that bailed you out of the Paramount War, right?" Yang inquired in sullen tone. Team CFVY were shocked to hear that he was involved in war, seeing as it's the first time being told this. The mood suddenly turned somber at the mention of the war as Luffy took a grim expression.

Ruby frowned as she figured out where this conversation was heading.

"Yeah. He picked me back up when I lost my brother, Ace." Luffy said with little emotion. Without the fishman's help, he was sure that he would've given up on his dream.

That small piece of info struck them like a sack of bricks. He threw himself into a warzone with the intention of saving his brother, only for that person's life to perish.

The room was deathly silent as the aftermath of the war was finally unveiled to them. Sure, the other students heard of it on the night after initiation, but they never got to know how it ended.

It clicked to Ren that this was the bad memory Luffy recalled when the two were talking about his Aura.

But that was far back in another world, so they would assume that Luffy has already dealt with the loss.

It still had an affect on Luffy's growth as a person, nonetheless.

One person out of the group was having a rough time for an entirely different reason though.

"L-lost your brother?" Jaune spoke up, finding the words suffocating to say. "But you were so strong, Luffy. I'm willing to bet that you could kick any of our asses right now. You, you..." the blonde tried to convince himself that this was a cruel joke, but Luffy's grim expression was telling him otherwise.

Everyone seems to agree with his sentiment on Luffy's strength, knowing that his experience in combat along with his otherworldly abilities can overwhelm them in one on one fights.

Pyrrha was saddened at how crushed Jaune was. After hearing how highly he thought of Luffy, the last thing she wanted to see was Jaune struggling to believe that Luffy failed to save someone. His utmost confidence in the boy didn't go unnoticed by the others as Ruby and Yang could compare it to another relationship.

The way Jaune thinks of Luffy is very much like how Luffy was with Shanks.

"Jaune..." Luffy called out to earn his attention. "It's true that I wasn't strong enough to save Ace back then. But that doesn't mean that I won't be strong enough to protect what I have left right now. In my old world, I still had my crew. Now I have you guys." Luffy told him.

This managed to alleviate some of Jaune's nerves.

"If you say you're alright, then I guess there's no point in worrying. Sorry for turning it to some sappy soap opera." Jaune apologized. It was a huge thing to hear, but he was getting all down and depressed over it when Luffy got over it.

"Hahaha. I don't know anything about soap operas, but it's okay." Luffy laughed it off, tearing down the gloomy atmosphere.

"Pfft, you already had a soap opera last night." Yang joked, to which Ruby and Blake groaned as they knew she was referring to. Weiss figured it had something to do with what happened after she was knocked out.

"I believe you have somewhere to be, students." Glynda reminded them. The students stiffened as they realized that they need to prepare for departure before heading to the elevator.

After all of the students left, Glynda turns to Ozpin to find him staring at her in disapproval.

"Now that was very rude. I was enjoying the show." Ozpin said, frowning over the loss of entertainment. That was a show that had a mix of drama and humor, and she metaphorically shuts the T.V off before he could watch more of it.

Glynda gave him a blank look as if she didn't care.

* * *

The students were all decked out in their gear waiting for the bullheads. Luffy was staring at the new type of ammo for his slingshot with a grin on his face. It was a bit bigger than his other pellets, and is porcelain in color.

"What do we have here?" Coco questioned as everyone gathered around him.

"A new pellet that I made last night." he simply answered. Weiss inspected it, but noticed that something was amiss.

"This... isn't Dust." Weiss observed, earning a nod from Luffy.

"Shishishi, it's soap with a water Dust pellet inside." Luffy informed them.

Water Dust isn't naturally found in the world, instead it was created after Luffy had the idea of molding ice and fire Dust together. Through a lot of trial and error, the ratio was balanced so the ice created would melt into water from the fire.

Many raised their brows at the new pellet.

That was seriously going to help with fighting Grimm?

Nora, Yang, and Coco snorted at the use of a bath product before busting out laughing.

"Hahaha, what are you gonna do? Bathe the Grimm to death? Come on, get serious Luffy." Yang joked.

"Guys, don't be so rude! It might actually help him somehow." Ruby berated them for making fun of his strange pellet. Luffy's ideas usually come in varying levels of seriousness. Some of them tend to be very unorthodox, yet it works in some way or another.

"If anything, you can start a bubble bath." Nora giggled. Luffy gazed upon the laughing trio with half lidded eyes.

"Only one way to find out. Go ahead and throw one at them." Blake encouraged him, mostly to see the tables turn on them.

Luffy nodded his head at the idea before infusing his Aura into the soap pellet and threw it at them.

The three stopped laughing as they took notice of the pellet creating soap suds.

" **Bubble Bomb Star.** "

The pellet burst into a huge cloud of suds. The mocking trio comically screamed before being engulfed in the cloud.

The bubble cloud spreads itself apart upon impact, revealing the trio drenched head to toe in water and suds. They tried to move, but both their bodies and the ground felt slick from the soap. The three were flailing their arms in a vain attempt to maintain balance.

The rest of the group could only laugh at their misery for underestimating the soap pellet.

"You two are so gonna get it! WHA!" Yang yelped as she slipped and fell on her back, making Luffy and Blake laugh harder.

"O-okay, lesson learned. Don't ever mock his ideas until you see them in action. Gah!" Coco flailed her arms after almost falling. She wasn't really mad about her soaked clothes since it's only soap and it'll dry off eventually.

"You know... this is actually kind of fun. It's like I'm figure skating." Nora said optimistically as she started to skate on the soapy surface. The others were impressed with how quickly she adapted.

"Leave to you to find an easy way out." Ren commented, earning a few giggles from his friend.

"I told you it would be helpful." Ruby cheered as she spectates on her sister's predicament.

"Yeah, now we can just pelt them with bullets." Jaune pointed out an advantage.

"It could also cripple someone's mobility, making escapes more plausible." Yatsu added.

The loss of speed can have disastrous effects on fast opponents, making a great opportunity to either take the offense or defensively retreat and regroup.

"Oh please. The best thing about it is that the victims will be embarrassed over it." Fox argued.

"Okay we get it, this is hilarious to you guys. Can you help us out, or what?" Yang requested in an agitated tone.

"Hmm, I don't know. I'd rather leave you there as a form of karma." Weiss contemplated, causing Yang to comically cry.

Her friends are being so cruel.

Coco casts a glance over to Velvet to see her camera in her hands with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Y-you wouldn't dare! You don't have the heart!" the fashionista said as she assumed her teammate was bluffing.

"Everyone has a moment of humility at some point. This is all too tempting to pass up." Velvet said, feeling a little mischievous. Coco paled as her team were chuckling darkly.

Luffy had enough fun and pulled the two away from the slippery zone. The two sighed in relief before Yang felt something placed on her head. She reached up and felt a familiar straw hat, causing her to turn her attention to Luffy.

"You can hold onto it for me. Knowing Buggy, he might recognize my straw hat." Luffy explained, which Yang nodded in understanding.

She was told that Buggy shared a history with... pretty much every person that owned that hat. The first being Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King as well as his captain. Second was his colleague, Shanks. Then there was Luffy.

After the soap victims dried off, the bullheads finally arrived to pick them up. They left with a few farewells as they climbed on board before departing.

Luffy was seated at the side, staring out the window as if in thought.

"Something on your mind?" Fox inquired, breaking Luffy's concentration.

"Yeah... just wondering how Ruby and Yang are gonna do without my help. They never liked being too far from me for so long." Luffy casually confessed. Fox lets out a hum in response, deciding to let him think about his family.

Luffy is aware of how important he is to the two. He was an anchor to their dreams, a guide on why they wanted to be huntresses. They may have other motives, but ultimately the sisters can't imagine accomplishing their dreams without him.

So he made the same promise to them that Ace couldn't keep for him: to not die on them. He knows the feeling of self pity and despair from losing your guidepost, so he'll give it his all in order to not make them suffer the same pain he has.

The rest of the flight went on in silence as they were on their way to Forever Fall.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Just a reminder, this is the last chapter before the poll closes.**

 **Please leave votes and reviews for feedback.**


	25. The Search

**The poll is officially closed as of now and the results are in.**

 **The order that the story ideas will go by will be the following from first to last: #2 - #1 - #4 - #3.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 25**

As soon as team CFVY and Luffy arrived in Forever Fall, they started their search in one group so they could watch each others' backs. Splitting up wasn't a logical choice considering that they are looking for the source of the influx, which means they could stumble upon it on accident and become overwhelmed by a horde of Grimm.

Better to take them on starting as a whole team instead of two or three members.

"Kinda sucks that your Observation Haki can't sense the presence of Grimm, huh." Coco commented to the two Haki users. Luffy's eyes lit up on the topic.

"Oh right. How are you guys doing so far?" he asked the team. The four looked a bit sheepish as they don't know if they made any progress at all.

"That's... hard to explain. What did you do to train the others?" Fox inquired in hopes of learning an effective training method. The only way he could think of was how Fujitora taught him, which was intense focus on your surroundings. He was blind, so he wasn't left with much choice on how to perceive the world.

"I just blindfold them and swing a bat at them." Luffy explained casually, causing the three non-Haki users to wince.

They can't imagine the number blows to the head that teams RWBY and JNPR took in an effort to learn one of the Haki types.

Although, people tend to say 'no pain, no gain'.

"Sounds... reasonable. But lets say one of us wants to learn Armament, then what?" Yatsu spoke up, hinting on his desire to obtain the other Haki type. His fighting style heavily relies on his strength, making Armament a great addition to his arsenal.

"Then you add some spirit when you're in a tough battle." Luffy answered vaguely before demonstrating what Armament would look like by imbuing it to his arm, turning it black.

The action slightly startled the them, but realized that they only seen that happen once before.

Back when Luffy infused Nora's hammer with his Haki during their match against team CRDL.

"He means that you cover your limb in literal fighting spirit... I think." Fox tried to go further into detail, but wasn't really sure himself. The rest sweatdropped at the lack of detail on their explanations.

All they got from that was that they had to focus their will to fight into their attacks, and that's not much to go on. They still don't know how to actually go about it and how much they have to add.

Velvet's musings were broken by the sounds of growling that invaded her rabbit ears. She stopped in place as she hones in on where it's coming from, gaining everyone's attention.

"Grimm?" Coco wondered, earning a nod from her teammate.

"Yay! Walking around and not finding anything was getting boring." Luffy stated as he cracked his knuckles before bringing out Black Kabuto along with the Sniper Bond. The others grinned at his excitement for battle.

The rest brought out their weapons, ready to confront the Grimm. Coco simply holds her bag, which is actually her weapon of choice. Yatsu draws a large curved sword that is bronze in color. Fox enters a combat stance with arm blades attached at the wrist. Velvet does the same, but refrains from using the box on the back of her waist.

The black beasts started to pour into their vision, varying in size and species. Beowolves dominate the wave in terms of numbers, but Ursas and Boarbatusks also have a fair amount. The largest threat amongst them would be the lone King Taijitu slithering along with them.

Luffy preemptively started the fight by loading the slingshot with a black pellet before shooting it at one of the Ursas. A loud blast was heard as soon as the small orb made contact with its head, eradicating any evidence that it was there. The surrounding Grimm turned to their headless comrade before giving low growls at the offender.

"That pellet would be so destructive if it was shot from my minigun." Coco muttered in interest, scaring her team at the thought of her weapon shooting a ridiculous amount of explosive bullets. Luffy perked up at the mention of her weapon.

"Ehh! You have a minigun!" Luffy exclaimed in childish wonder. The fashionista smirked before showcasing the transformation of her bag, which morphed into its minigun form with a huge drum holding the ammo. Luffy's eyes immediately turned to stars at the sight.

"A-awesome! That gun is huge! You have to be pretty strong if you can carry it around like that." Luffy noticed. If the woman can carry around a large weapon in its compact form with one hand, it goes to show that her physical strength isn't something to joke about.

The three observers sweatdropped as the two conversed in the middle a seemingly threatening situation.

The approaching Grimm broke them out of their thoughts as Coco switched back to her bag.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot that they were there." Luffy said sheepishly, not feeling threatened by the horde. Sure there were a lot, but they weren't anything special like the B.K. The group fanned out to fight the Grimm.

Yatsu waited for the Beowolves to foolishly lunge at him before severing each of them with a single swing of his sword per unit, displaying incredible feats of strength. It even went as far as bisecting an Ursa, whose bulky body would prove to be difficult to cut through.

He performed an overhead swing to the ground, leading to a powerful shockwave that lifted the surrounding creatures into the air as well as shattering the ground. Luffy takes advantage of their airborne state and jumps up to them. He spins rapidly, stretching and wrapping himself with his arms and legs until he looked like a rubber ball.

" **Gomu Gomu no Hanabi** ( _Fireworks_ )"

The ball unwraps itself, sending a flurry of both punches and kicks in every direction. The Grimm were helpless as they were pummeled by the many fists and feet that landed on them, killing them as they fell back to the ground.

Yatsu smirked at Luffy for wordlessly capitalizing on the set up, to which the boy returned with a grin.

Fox enters the fray and starts hacking away at the Grimm by spinning and flipping with his arm blades, serving an onslaught of slashes. With his Observation hindered, he could only rely on his hearing, reflexes, and the brief premonition from their killing intent.

A Boarbatusk rolled towards him, but he hopped over it. The boar Grimm made a U-turn and charged again, to which Fox was prepared for after hearing the Beowolves behind it.

Through great Aura manipulation, he slammed both fists against the rolling foe. The shockwave stopped it in its tracks before sending back, leaving the Beowolves to be steamrolled by the launched Grimm. The Boarbatusk crashed into a tree before it suddenly exploded to bits.

"So cool! He did that Aura thing like Ren." Luffy commented. Based on what he heard from Nora, he's able to connect between the explosion before him and how Ren caused the head of a snake to do the same by using its own fang.

Luffy jumped over a Beowolf that snuck up on him before delivering an axe kick to its head. He sees a large number of its friends charging at him in unison while huddled together.

Deciding to use his slingshot more, he sets up another shot with a green pellet.

" **Tempest Wolf Star** "

The small orb was released, transforming into a large canine made of compressed air. The attack rushed through the horde, sending them flying from the intense air pressure.

Luffy grinned at his handiwork while an Ursa Major was about to strike him with his paws.

However, it was interrupted by a kick from Velvet. She continued her attacks, landing one kick after the other as the bear Grimm failed to respond. The Ursa Major had enough and tried to sweep the rabbit faunus's feet, only for her to do a backflip to dodge while also nailing it in the jaw with her foot.

Luffy stared curiously at her fighting style, discovering a strong similarity to Sanji's.

The Ursa roared in anger of the nuisance, keeping its attention on Velvet without paying any heed to its surroundings.

A fatal error on its part...

" **Ice Shuriken Star** "

Velvet relaxed as four moderately sized ninja stars forged from an ice pellet whizzed by her and dug into the Major's flesh, eliciting a pained howl.

She rushed in and used the cold weapons as a foothold before leaping high above the weakened Grimm. Velvet somersaults a few times before landing a heavy axe kick on the bear Grimm's noggin, similar to Sanji's Concasse but weaker due to her own strength.

She kept herself perched on its shoulders as a blue hard light weapon was projected out from the box on her back waist, creating a weapon that was familiar to Luffy.

It was a copy of Soul Solid.

She grabs her hard light copy and draws it before plunging it into the Ursa's head with the thin blade. Luffy could only stare in shock and amazement of his usually shy friend.

He begins using Observation Haki to sense Coco's whereabouts to see how she's doing. That and possibly to see her minigun tear Grimm to shreds.

The straw hat boy was able to pinpoint her location, but Beowolves seem to be on the pathway. Luffy pouts at the obstacles before twisting his legs several times, and then hops off the ground to let his legs unwind really fast. The action created a spinning blur on the bottom half of his body, which is also allowing him to hover.

" **Gomu Gomu no UFO** "

Luffy starts his march through the veil of Grimm, kicking any unfortunate enemies that happened to be too close.

"Lets go, Velvet." Luffy called out, earning a nod from the rabbit faunus. He stretches his arm out and pulls her up to his shoulders, allowing her to ride on them for the time being.

Velvet lets out a sigh of relief for the quick breather as she doesn't want to stay here fighting Grimm any longer.

"We seem to be on the right track if there are this many out here." Velvet observed.

"Yeah, but we're wasting too much time. What was that back there, though? It looked so cool!" Luffy added his two cents before suddenly switching on to the subject of her fighting style.

Velvet was about to tell him to wait till after the fight, but she began to notice that the Grimm are staying away from the duo in fear of getting hit by the hovering discus.

Not only that, the hoard looks less populated due to all of the fighting.

She doesn't see the harm in talking with him if the threat has shrunken down considerably.

"I use my camera to capture pictures of someone's weapons, and then I create physical copies of them to fight. But the process to prepare them takes a lot of time, and they only last a number hits before breaking." Velvet explained her peculiar weapons in detail.

"Huh... then shouldn't you be saving them for the tougher battles?" Luffy wondered in curiosity, causing her to slump. He didn't even bother to wonder when she shot a picture of Soul Solid.

Coco often told her the same thing about conserving her frail weapons, and now she's going to berate her for using a copy to kill a Grimm that Luffy could've easily taken care of. She also feels guilty for sneaking into his sparring classes to spectate his fights in order to gain intel on his fighting style without his knowledge.

Even she can admit that it sounds like she was stalking him.

"So how were you fighting like Sanji?" Luffy asked further, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"O-oh right. My semblance lets me mimic a person's style of fighting to an extent. I already know some martial arts based on kicking, so Sanji's style compliments it pretty well." Velvet informed him. Thankfully, Luffy used Sanji's bond during the fight with the bullies, so Velvet managed to gain some insight on the chef's techniques.

Luffy couldn't help but think that her semblance is similar to his own. They both focus on using skills that belonged to someone else.

The two started to hear the sounds of gunfire, causing Luffy to grin as he sped up towards the source of the sound.

They entered the scene to witness a pissed off Coco mowing down the rest of the Grimm with her minigun, much to Luffy's joy. Even the King Taijitu was left in pieces from the brutal massacre.

Luffy halts his UFO, which allowed Velvet to dismount.

Velvet quirked a brow at her leader's behavior until she caught sight of a tear on her brown shirt.

"Ohh... that's why she looks mad. One of them nicked her clothes." Velvet muttered as if she solved a mystery.

"She gets like that over her clothes? That's pretty scary." Luffy said with a blank look. He can't really blame her since he does the same for his hat. Thinking about his treasured possession forced a small smile as he remembered handing it to Yang, knowing that she'll take good care of it.

Fox and Yatsu joined them just as Coco stopped shooting, leaving a legless Alpha Beowolf at her mercy.

The fashionista struts up to the immobilized Grimm and stares down at it with disdain.

"You wrecked one of my favorite shirts. You'll pay with your life." Coco threatened in a low tone before caving its skull into the ground with her bag, cratering the dirt below its head.

The area was supposedly clear of hostiles, but Luffy and Fox turned their attention to another presence. The others got the message, but were confused when they recalled that Grimm couldn't be sensed.

What living being could be out here besides them?

They soon got their answer as a large timber wolf with a scar across its snout came into view. It was snarling at them as it circled them defensively. They had a feeling that this one was the alpha of the pack after noticing the scar.

Velvet squeaked in nervousness due to her faunus heritage, seeing as wolves tend to eat rabbits. Much like how a cat faunus feels uneasy in the presence of a dog.

"Cool! That's a big wolf. He looks tasty." Luffy said with drool in his mouth, causing the wolf to growl in hostility of the boy's intentions. Team CFVY sweatdrops at his priorities.

"We don't have time for eating wildlife, Luffy. Besides, that wolf unlocked his Aura." Fox speculated, surprising the rest. It was usually common for domesticated animals to be trained in Aura use, but to find a wild animal that has Aura was very rare.

To Observation users, a living being with a dormant Aura would appear as a simple silhouette. Those with their Aura unlocked have a radiant glow about them, which dims as they lose Aura.

Luffy found himself staring into the wolf's eyes, as if feeling his suffering and desperation.

"I changed my mind. I'm going to tame him." Luffy declared suddenly with a grin.

"Huh!" the team yelled in unison. Before they could argue, Luffy lets out a burst of Conqueror's Haki. The timber wolf stopped growling, completely pacified by his strong will.

They could only stare in wide eyed shock as the now docile wolf walked up to him, letting the straw hat boy pet him.

"He honed his Conqueror's Haki to the point that he could tame them effortlessly." Fox figured in awe.

"You and your friends must've been kicked out of your home, huh Timber." Luffy deduced with a sad smile, earning a whine from the wolf named Timber. They quirked a brow in wonder if he was able to communicate with animals. They doubt that Chopper's bond will help, seeing as Luffy would still be left with noises and gestures from the animals since he's not naturally born an animal.

'He gave it the same name as its breed.' Yatsu noted dully in his thoughts. Velvet was still reluctant on approaching the predator, something Luffy noticed.

"What's wrong, Velvet. He's not going to bite. See?" Luffy emphasized his point by grabbing her hand and pulling the appendage to Timber's head. Velvet lets out a squeak at the sudden pull, her heart racing uncomfortably as Luffy made her hand pet the wolf's head. Timber did nothing but allow her to brush her hand over its fur, which caused the rabbit faunus to relax a bit.

It was like the wolf was already domesticated.

After a bit of deep thought, an idea suddenly clicked to Coco.

"That... is actually a good lead. Can you lead us to your home?" Coco asked the wolf, who turned to Luffy.

"Don't worry, we'll get your home back." Luffy told the wolf, earning a happy tail wag. Timber walked away from them, but barked as if telling them to follow. The others took a moment to realize the lead they had.

Grimm only grow hostile towards animals when it comes to claiming territory. The pack of timber wolves must have been forcefully vacated from their home when the Grimm started pushing their boundaries forward.

There's a great chance that the influx of Grimm are playing the role as the spearhead of their invasion.

With that knowledge in mind, they began to follow Timber towards wherever its home was.

"This has been quite a mission so far." Yatsu concluded on their progress with the rest nodding in agreement. They got into a skirmish with Grimm and they just witness their extra team member tame a timber wolf with ease.

* * *

Just as Luffy's group was following Timber, teams RWBY and JNPR are tailing behind Yang as she lead them to an informant she's acquainted with. They were starting to have doubts when they entered the more questionable part of Vale.

However, Ruby seems to know where her straw hat wearing sister is taking them to.

"Are you sure that he has what we need?" Jaune asked skeptically, feeling very uneasy with his surroundings. While they do have safety in numbers, it didn't do anything for his anxiety.

"Yup! If we need to know of anything related to crooks and other shady stuff, then he's our guy." Yang said in optimism. She would sometimes visit him to get an update on something else she's searching for.

"Not like he'll do anything to us since you made a mess of his bar so many times." Ruby deadpanned, causing others to raise a brow. Yang gave a light chuckle at that.

It wasn't just her, Luffy was tagging along with her a lot of those times.

"Of course it would be a bar." Weiss muttered. Putting the blonde's tastes into consideration, they should've known that they're heading to a club.

"It's not like we have any leads to find Buggy and his gang. We have until nightfall before they strike another store." Pyrrha added her two cents. They seem to be the kind of group to hit a store and then move to another hideout, indicating that their movements are hard to track.

In a way, that would sound more pirate-like since pirates don't usually stay on an island for very long.

Yang stole a glance at her partner to see that Blake has remained silent for quite a while. Even though that's the norm with her, the black haired girl looks a bit out of focus. As if thinking about something... or someone.

"What's wrong, Blake? Worried about Luffy?" Yang teased, but Blake shook her head.

"Not really. He has Velvet and her team." she responded coolly, earning a pout from Yang.

Not exactly the response she was aiming for, even though she's pretty sure that is the case.

Blake was glad that the blonde didn't press any further. She was in fact a little worried about Luffy's wellbeing. For all she knew, he could be in the middle of fighting tooth and nail against new species of Grimm that they have never encountered before.

But she refuses to give telltale signs of that to Yang, who would undoubtedly press on with the teasing.

"Not like worrying will make it any better anyways. I'm sure he's breaking the legs of all the new Grimm right now." Nora cheered, but the statement caused Ruby to hang her head in sadness.

"I almost forgot about that. Makes me wonder what he's going to fight exactly." Ruby wondered, dispirited about missing out on new Grimm. The rest sweatdropped, but can't help but think of the possible foes.

While they were stuck in their musings, they stopped in front of a building that they could only assume is the club.

"I don't suppose this is the club you mentioned, is it?" Ren asked the blonde while pointing at the building.

"Yeah, that's right. This is one of my usual _Yang_ outs." Yang punned, earning a series of groans in response.

"You know, it's times like this that I want Luffy to be with me when I make any puns." Yang said with her head hung in defeat. There won't be an end to the puns, but it's really encouraging when she gets a laugh.

Having done enough fooling around, the two teams entered the club. The inside of the building was huge with a dance floor decorated with four pillars and a bar off to the side. There wasn't many customers inside at this time of day, but there sure are a lot of low rank grunts. Ruby recognized the black suits and fedoras they were wearing, recalling the night of the robbery.

They turn to their guide only to see her staring at the four figures at the bar.

One was a man that stood a full head taller than Yang with grey eyes and short black hair matching his beard and moustache. His outfit gives off the vibe that he at least owns the club with his white dress shirt under a black vest, a red tie, black gloves, and black dress pants.

Another was blonde man in his seat having a drink. Said blonde man was about the same height as the possible owner with a muscular build with an attire that consists of an open blue vest, black pants, and brown shoes. He also has that grin plastered on his face.

And the last two are twin sisters wearing strapless dresses. One of the twins was wearing a mix of white and cyan with long black hair, while the other is adorned in red and black with short black hair.

The students approached the bar with the silent agreement to let Yang do most of the talking since she has a strong influence within the club.

The black haired man looked up at the source of footsteps and groaned to himself.

"What the hell do you want, Blondie?" the man growled, not wanting anymore trouble from the brawler.

His words brought the others' attention to the students with the blonde man eyeing the hat Yang is wearing while the twins look at her with narrowed eyes.

"I can't even come to pay a visit, Junior. I was wondering if you have anything on this." Yang gets to the point as she shows Buggy's jolly roger to him. Junior spared a look to the image before grunting.

"Yeah, I recognize it. No good bunch of misfits that do as they please, thinking they have all the power. Tough luck finding them, though. They're bouncing all over the place." Junior gave what info he could, but he's sure that Yang was displeased with the amount.

Yang found herself in a bad mood, but before the blonde could grill him for more info...

"If I may ask, does that belong to Straw Hat Luffy?" the blonde man asked suddenly as he gestured to the said accessory resting on Yang's head, catching everyone off guard. They don't know this man one bit, but he's very familiar with the straw hat for some reason.

"Who's asking?" Weiss countered with her arms crossed as she was on alert. This person could be a friend or foe to her friend, unless Ruby or Yang can verify him by name.

"Bellamy the Hyena." he replied, earning a surprised look from Ruby.

"You became friends with Luffy in Dressrosa, although you were his enemy before that." Ruby remembered, but muttered the second half to herself. The confirmation calmed them down as they realize that this Bellamy person bears no ill will against Luffy.

"Heh, that's him alright. I'm guessing you have a deep connection to him if he's letting you hold onto that hat." Bellamy observed.

"It's more than some connection, me and Rubes are his family." Yang informed him, to which Bellamy hummed in response.

He's glad to know that a person he respects is alive and doing well for himself. From his observations, he could tell that these kids are training to be huntsmen.

'So he wishes to be a huntsman this time.' Bellamy thought, feeling indifferent on Luffy's choice. The two may become enemies again, but that's fine by him.

"I might be able to give you a hand with this." Bellamy said, earning him a lot of raised brows.

"I may be just some lone wolf thug on the street, but I hear a lot of rumors." Bellamy continued with his trademark grin. The students looked skeptical of the sudden generosity, as if there was an ulterior motive.

"Why help us? What do you have to gain from this?" Pyrrha inquired. She really doubts it has anything to do with having a common friend.

"Are you planning something that the cops won't like?" Blake asked further. Bellamy huffed at their skeptical gazes.

He could understand their point of view. If he was approached by some random guy that was a friend of your friend, he'd be in disbelief of the guy's kindness too.

"All that racket they're causing is making the cops a bit jumpy. It feels suffocating to walk the streets with the law enforcement covering every inch of the city." Bellamy reasoned.

"Well, if that's all there is to it, then we'd appreciate the help." Ruby accepted nonchalantly, stunning her partner and Bellamy with her naivety.

This girl was going to accept that at face value? She's just as naïve as Luffy in that regard.

"Are you serious! He may be Luffy's friend, but he's-" Weiss tried to rebuke, but Ruby cuts her off.

"Trustworthy. I'm willing to bet he means no harm to innocent people. He's not unreasonable." Ruby defended him. Weiss could only sigh in frustration as she begrudgingly accepted her leader's decision.

"Not like we have much of a choice anyway. Without him, we may as well be back at square one." Ren pointed out. Yang's informant didn't have anything useful, and that was their only chance.

"I guess so. Where's Jaune by the way?" Pyrrha wondered, causing the others to look for her leader. Their eyes found him trying to flirt with the twins, but went unsuccessful as they turned away in disgust. Jaune looked crestfallen at the rejection, which prompted his team to comfort him.

"Ugh... there's never any good guys like that Luffy kid, right Miltia." the white dressed girl complained to her black wearing twin.

"He may be an idiot Melanie, but he does have a cute face. Then there are those rubber powers of his." Miltia agreed.

Yang and Blake gave the twins an annoyed look as the two could feel their lustful intentions, yet they both don't know that either of them are giving the same look. Yang's was out of clear disapproval of the two, while Blake was bothered about the girls' infatuation with the boy.

"Looks like he's as popular as ever." Bellamy noted with a sweatdrop, earning nods from the rest of the group as they all left.

When the coast was clear, Junior lets out a sigh of relief as his club has escaped unscathed from the blonde brawler. Better news was that her obnoxious cousin wasn't with her to help with demolition.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Please leave votes and reviews for feedback.**


	26. It's Showtime!

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 26**

He finally made it to Vale.

After many days of walking, destroying terrorist encampments, and a peaceful ride across the sea courtesy of his travelling companion, Zoro has arrived in the bustling city.

He and Perona left the vessel that brought him here while overhearing some of the sailors' chatter.

"What in the hell were those ghosts? They keep following our ship for no reason." the first sailor wondered, unnerved by the strange anomaly.

"Who knows. They didn't do anything to us, so why should it matter." the second sailor waved off.

As soon as they set sail, the crew caught sight of silly ghosts hovering around their ship. At first, they were frightened by the specters' existence. But when they noticed that the things weren't malevolent, they just started to ignore them.

Even though they were still creeped out.

"Haven't you noticed though? Those creepy ghosts were all around us, yet we never got attacked by Grimm." a third sailor piped in. Zoro couldn't help but smirk at Perona's handiwork.

"Hmph, they should be grateful to my ghosts. Were it not for them, our ship probably would've sunk." Perona muttered. The main purpose of the Negative Hollows was to keep watch and lure the seafaring Grimm away should they get close.

"It's a miracle they can even make it in one piece on their own." Zoro added.

The duo continued to walk through the streets, looking for a way to Beacon. A sudden thought occured to Zoro concerning the ghost girl.

"What are you going to do after I reunite with Luffy, Perona?" Zoro asked. The ghost girl stopped in her tracks as she put thought into it, unaware that Zoro moved somewhere else.

She could go back home, but there won't be anyone there. She doesn't like the thought of being alone in a dark and eerie castle.

"I'll... figure out something." Perona answered in uncertainty. She didn't hear anything from him and dreaded the worst as she turned to where he's supposed to be.

No green hair in sight...

She clenched her fists in growing frustration for his disappearance.

"That... moron." she glowered. Negative Hollows sprung into being and dispersed to find him, not paying any mind to the freaked out civilians around her.

* * *

Zoro walked away from the pink haired girl after he caught sight of something as it went around the corner. He saw a woman with blonde hair, but that wasn't what got his attention.

It was the straw hat she was wearing. Not only that, he spotted some others that he recognized within the group.

"There's no doubt about it. That was Luffy's hat. But why are Bellamy and Mistral girl with that woman?" Zoro wondered, puzzled by the sight of the group.

He could only assume that the person wearing the boy's hat was one of the girls in the photo Qrow showed him.

The swordsman weaved through the crowd in an effort to catch up. Right now, that group is the only lead he has to finding Luffy's exact location.

He comes to an intersection and takes a random turn. He looks around in a frantic search for either the blonde hair or the straw hat. Alas, he couldn't find any signs of such.

"Damn! They got lost." he muttered. He turns back to find Perona and ask her for some assistance, but he went in a direction other than where he came from.

"You say they're lost, yet you can't even find your own way back!" Perona shouted at him from above. Before he could respond, a Negative Hollow phased through him, causing the swordsman to fall to his knees.

"I'm not worthy enough to lick your shoes." Zoro mumbled in depression, but recovered shortly after and glared at the perpetrator.

"Now before you start barking at me, I found those group of kids you're looking for." Perona informed him, which did well to soften his demeanor.

"Where are they headed?" Zoro asked impatiently.

* * *

Jaune instinctively turned around and scanned the area behind him. For some odd reason, he had the feeling someone was following them.

'Weird... I thought for sure there was someone there.' he thought in bewilderment.

"What's wrong?" a voice broke him out of his thoughts. He turns his attention to the others staring at him.

"Just... imagining things." Jaune told them, shrugging off the sensation. They accepted his answer before continuing their march to what would be the enemy stronghold.

They kept following Bellamy until he stopped in in front of them.

"According to the rumors, this should be the place. A lot of people were mentioning some odd folks coming here." Bellamy informed the group. They look ahead of him to see an abandoned warehouse in the industrial district.

While the location seems stereotypical for robbers to store their stolen goods, there were too many to search through in the coastal city given the size of its port.

"Odd folks?" Yang quirked a brow.

"For one, they saw a beautiful woman passing through this district. Now why would such a pretty face be here, I wonder?" Bellamy asked rhetorically. With the exception of Ruby, the girls had half lidded eyes at the description.

'Alvida.' they thought in a dull tone, still feeling jealous of her devil fruit's passive function.

"I'll go check to make sure they're in there." Blake insisted as she climbed on top of a container below a window. Yang found herself taking in the sight of her partner's butt.

"Damn, she's got a great ass. With that in mind, she shall be nicknamed 'Bellabooty'." Yang muttered in awe, resulting in many sweatdrops and a shudder from Blake.

"Is she bisexual?" Jaune whispered the blunt question to Ruby.

"No, she's straight. Yang just likes to admire any attractive part of the body, boy or girl." Ruby replied, not bothered by how crude the inquiry was. She knew a fair amount of people that questioned her sister's sexual orientation.

Blake ignored the feeling of being ogled and peered through the window. She immediately spotted a group of five around a table, four men and one woman who she would assume to be Alvida.

Alvida herself has wavy black hair, dark green eyes, and also uses nail polish and lipstick. Her clothes consist of a white cowboy hat with a red plume, a bikini top, a purple coat, tight Capri-length pants in pink, and a pair of sandals.

One of the men had a unique hairstyle where half of his dark green hair covered his face while the other half was parallel shaved. He wears a large scarf with a blue and white checkered pattern, a sleeveless coat that reaches to his knees, and a sash above his white pants and shoes.

The one next to him was... bizarre. He wears a pair of blue pants with a yellow sash and shoes that resemble paws. What caught her attention was the small vest of white fur along with his white hair in the form of a lion's mane. He also has a lion's tail, showing that he's a faunus.

'That vest looks like it's clung to his body, which means that it might actually be his hair. Gross.' Blake thought in disgust. Having chest hair is one thing, but having enough to pass as a piece of clothing glued to your body is just disturbing.

She moves on to the next person, which was a frail looking man wearing glasses. His attire is simple with a button collar shirt and pants. But his hair has a topknot in the shape of the number three, making her assume that he was Mr. 3.

The cat faunus could only wonder how they didn't find them with something like that to give him away.

The last person must be Buggy, given that his outfit has some resemblance to a clown. It's hard to miss him with his big red nose along with his blue hair and make up on his face. His garbs include a hat with his jolly roger over a striped bandana, a fur lined coat over his striped shirt, cartoonish gloves, loose pants reaching his calves, and pointy shoes.

The rest of the occupants were more of your traditional thugs with their bandanas of varying colors. Once she finished her scouting, Blake hopped of the container and returned to the others.

"What's the word, Blakey?" Yang half shouted to keep themselves from being heard.

"The three devil fruit users are definitely inside, but there are two other high ranking members." Blake explained. She then gave a description of what each of the five look like, receiving disgusted looks for the lion faunus' hairy body.

"Great... so do we just take them by storm, or what?" Nora asked with vigor as she held Magnhild. Yang and Bellamy were accepting of the idea with their grins, while the remainder are hesitant on the guns blazing tactic.

While they did receive intel on the devil fruit powers they're up against, they can't ignore the possibility of an annoying semblance.

"Can we at least split our group to handle the five with optimal performance?" Weiss suggested to the reckless fighters.

"We don't have time to worry about a strategy. It'll work out as we fight, alright." Yang disapproved.

Before the two could argue, a loud noise was heard. Thinking the chaos would distract their targets, Nora smashed the main entrance with her hammer. The two men guarding the entrance failed to respond to the swinging doors before making contact with them, knocking them out.

Weiss sighs in exasperation as they have no choice but to proceed without a proper strategy.

"Ehh!" the grunts shouted in surprise as they are caught between two sources of intrusion. On one side, they have the huntsmen in training plus one thug. The other side is occupied by just two people who sliced a hole in the metal building.

"Zoro! I told you they were on the other side of the building. We could've walked around it." Perona berated him for cutting himself a doorway.

"This way's faster." Zoro replied. He looks ahead to see everyone is staring at him with wide eyes. Although, Yang was drinking in the sight of his muscular body with a pervy grin, much to his annoyance as he recalled the same grin on the cook's face.

'He looks so much hotter in person.' Yang swooned.

"Well, well. If it isn't Pirate Hunter Zoro." Bellamy grinned at the new arrival.

"Tch. Didn't think he'd be working as a huntsman." Buggy said in annoyance, earning a confused look from the swordsman.

"Huntsman? I'm not here for you, Buggy. I came here to look for Luffy, and those guys are the only ones that know."Zoro explained as he shifts his gaze over to the students.

Yang blinked a few times until she realized how he would be certain of that. She's so glad that she has her cousin's hat with her. It got them a lead for their mission, and now Buggy and Zoro are going to see proof of her connection to Luffy.

Buggy and his alliance turned to the group and took notice of the straw hat.

"Huh? That does look like Straw Hat's." Mr. 3 concluded as he cups his chin.

"Oh? So he's here after all. Guess I'll have to pay him a visit." Alvida said in a sultry tone, ringing alarms in Yang and Blake. Did she have some attraction to Luffy?

"Just the sight of it is giving me a headache!" Buggy ranted, recalling his mishaps with Shanks and Luffy.

"Long time no see, Zoro." Pyrrha called out from across the room with a polite wave.

"Yo, Mistral girl." Zoro returned casually.

"We're in the middle of something, and you two just greet each other like nothing is happening! Don't screw with us!" Buggy yelled. The students ignore him in favor of the first mate.

"S-sorry, Zoro. Luffy isn't with us right now. But I can promise you that you'll get to see him after we finish this." Ruby said. Zoro sighed at the development, feeling like he just missed his captain.

"It can't be helped then." Zoro said as he summoned a normal sword and unsheathed both of them.

"Just so we're clear, we got the five at the table so stay out of our fight." Jaune claimed, causing everyone to look at him. With both Bellamy and Zoro, the fight would be a cakewalk if the two focused on the strongest members.

"Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?" Bellamy questioned in a threatening tone. The blonde flinched at the former pirate's voice, but stood strong.

"We didn't come all this way to have someone else do the fighting for us! I won't accept a completed mission when we haven't done anything!" the boy declared. The declaration stunned his friends as well as the incarnates siding with them. Bellamy and Zoro soon found themselves smirking.

That sounded like something Luffy would say.

"Fine by me." Zoro agreed. He understands where Jaune is coming from. This was a matter of pride, and he would do well not to tarnish it. The boy also earns some points for boldly speaking out against two guys that can beat his ass with little effort.

Buggy and his crew laughed at the Beacon students out of arrogance.

"Oh please... a bunch of kids like you think that you can beat us." Buggy said as he drew several knives from his coat and held them between his fingers.

This prompted everyone else to draw their respective weapons. Alvida slung a huge spiked mace over her shoulder, displaying some deceptive strength. The man with the large scarf drew his saber while hopping on a unicycle, and the lion faunus brings out a whip made of flexible metal. Mr. 3 appears to be unarmed, but he might have a trick up his sleeve. The grunts assembled around their superiors, forming a wall of bodies armed with swords and simple firearms.

"You're gonna have to get through us first." one of the grunts said. Bellamy's grin grew feral as he knelt to the ground and turned his legs into springs, causing the students to back away from him in surprise.

"Whoa! Is that your devil fruit power!?" Nora asked in childish wonder.

"You got it. I ate the Spring Spring fruit, making me a spring human." Bellamy explained. The springs compressed further until he was satisfied.

" **Spring Snipe** "

Bellamy launches himself into the group with incredible velocity before nailing one of the cannon fodder with his fist. He continued to fly until he bounced off the wall, changing his trajectory. Another unfortunate soul got grabbed by him as he passed by, unable to break free when Bellamy slammed the grunt's head against a support beam.

"Should've guessed that he would fight like a barbarian." Weiss commented on Bellamy's brutality. The grunts were too stupid to realize that he's easily predictable with his straightforward attacks, and they also lack the quick reflex to counter him and his speed.

On the other side, Zoro slowly walked towards the other half of the grunts while Perona floats somewhere else.

"You can have all of them to yourself. I'll just sit back and watch." Perona told him. Zoro didn't reply as he held a bored expression to the approaching grunts.

While he's sworn himself not to intervene, it doesn't erase the fact that the low level grunts are not going to excite his thirst for battle.

" **Taka Nami** ( _Hawk Wave_ )"

A great gust of wind was launched, blowing away a portion of the enemy forces. He rushes into the fray with two swords in hand and starts his onslaught on his boring foes.

With the exception of Pyrrha, the students were astounded by his skill as he keeps cutting down grunts one by one with superb finesse.

"He really is his first mate, huh?" Jaune said in awe. He could learn a thing or two from his fellow swordsman.

"We can gawk at his swordsmanship later. Right now, we have business to take of." Blake reminded as she had her attention on Alvida, who's smiling seductively. The others nodded their heads as they selected their opponents.

"Gentlemen... who is the most beautiful woman in the world?" Alvida asked the remaining grunts as she flaunts her looks. The grunts who were not close to either incarnate turned to her with hearts for eyes and pointed at her.

"That would be you, Lady Alvida!" they cheered in unison. The seventeen year old girls seethed in anger of her arrogance, but have a hard time denying her beauty. Pyrrha looks over to Jaune to see him ogling the woman's revealing attire before pulling on his ear, earning a yelp from him.

'If they think she's pretty, wait till they see Hancock and Shirahoshi.' Ruby sweatdropped as she remembers two other women that Luffy mentioned being friends with. Alvida was just your normal pirate with a devil fruit that changed her appearance, which means nothing compared to both the Pirate Empress and the mermaid princess.

She'll have to remember to ask Luffy for an illustration.

"I think it's time to start our flashy circus acts. Mohji... Cabaji, keep them busy." Buggy ordered, earning eager nods from the lion faunus and unicyclist respectively. The two subordinates rushed towards them, but were blocked by Jaune and Pyrrha.

"You guys take care of the devil fruit users, we'll handle this." Pyrrha assured. The other six nod in agreement before splitting off into teams of two. Weiss hands Blake a magazine of elemental Dust for her Gambol Shroud as they parted, causing Blake to raise a brow.

"Wha-"

"For that woman over there. Attacks may slip off of her, but that can't mean every attack." Weiss explained. She could only make guesswork based on knowing only one DF user, but she would assume that each of them have a limitation to their abilities.

One such example being Luffy's attack range, where he can't just stretch indefinitely under normal circumstances.

According to the team compositions: Weiss and Ren vs. Mr. 3, Blake and Ruby vs. Alvida, then Yang and Nora vs. Buggy.

While that was going on, the remaining two are dealing with the non-DF users.

Chaos ensued within the confines of the warehouse, multiple individual battles were taking place in random parts of the building.

* * *

 _Jaune vs. Mohji_

Jaune was doing well dodging Mohji's whip, much to the tamer's ire. Little did he know that the boy was imagining the whip as a stretchy fist, as if convincing himself to deftly dodge the weapon.

"I guess you're more annoying than I thought." Mohji said in growing anger as he missed another strike. Jaune found an opening and charged at him, but Mohji proved just as confident on the defense by using his whip to block his attacks.

" **Special Sideshow** "

Mohji kicked him away and wrapped him around the waist with his whip before tugging on it, causing Jaune to lose balance from the spinning. The blonde suffered several lashes of his foe's weapon.

" **Beast Call** "

The tamer lets out a loud whistle, resulting in the manifestation of a lion made of Aura.

"Oh come on... you can form a lion." Jaune groaned at his predicament. Now he's stuck in a two on one, making his approach far more difficult.

"They don't call me the Beast Tamer for nothing. Richie, tear him to shreds." Mohji commanded with a smug grin. The Aura beast lets out a fierce roar before charging at him.

Jaune grits his teeth as he steels himself for the beast. Richie swiped at him, but he ducked under and managed to sever the offending limb. Jaune was mystified at how easy that was as he saw the severed limb disappear, only to witness the stump on the lion grow another leg.

"Oh come on! He can regenerate!" Jaune comically cried at the unfair advantage. He brought up his shield when he saw Richie trying to ram him with its head, but was immediately knocked off his feet from the force. He flew back until he crashed into a steel pillar, forcing a pained grunt from him.

Richie didn't stop as it slammed Jaune's side with its paw while he was descending. The blonde went flying until he crashed into a pile of wooden crates, destroying them on impact.

Jaune stuggled to stand up as he was enveloped in pain from being tossed around, his sword and shield laying next to him.

"This is the end for you." Mohji grinned at his assured victory as Richie lunged at the boy with its fangs. Jaune stares in defiance, not giving up so easily. He shifts his gaze to his shield, coming up with an idea.

'You know, Cardin... your bullying is going to save my life.' he thought in irony of his plan. He quickly grabs his shield and switched it to its sheath form before holding out to halt the lion's bite. Still holding strong, Jaune switched it back to shield form, holding Richie's jaw open due to its size.

Relieved to know that the shield is stuck, Jaune rolled out of the way while picking up his sword.

Mohji looked on in shock as his partner was struggling to remove the obstruction from the hinge of its jaw. His shock soon turned to horror as Jaune went to town on the vulnerable lion.

No matter how many cuts Jaune was delivering, the wounds regenerated soon after. Team JNPR's leader was about to stop his futile assault, but noticed Mohji's expression.

'Why is he horrified that I'm cutting an Aura beast that regenerates. Unless..." realization dawned on him that there is a limit to the healing factor. Surely enough, the recent wounds given were healing at a slower rate than normal.

Mohji suddenly lashed out with his whip, forcing Jaune to back away from Richie.

"Dammit, you suffered too much damage." Mohji grimaced at Richie's condition before placing a hand on his loyal companion.

" **Beast Union** "

The damaged Richie was absorbed into Mohji, His muscles started bulking up in size and the hair on his body was wavy. He threw his whip as well as kick the fallen shield that was freed at the time of the lion's absorption.

His canine teeth grew more pronounced and his hands were enveloped in Aura in the form of a lion's arms, complete with sharp claws.

'Oh shit!' Jaune thought as he stood in fright of his imposing opponent, never expecting this transformation.

"Scared, aren't you? Me and my partner are of one body now. If you're not careful, you might just get torn limb from limb." Mohji threatened in a deeper, more feral voice.

Jaune widened his eyes at the explanation. If those two shared an Aura based bond like Luffy's semblance, then that would explain Richie's healing factor.

The regenerative ability is the result of Mohji transfusing his Aura into the lion. Since it was made out of Aura, the beast had a very effective healing ability. The slower regeneration was possibly due to Mohji running low on Aura himself.

Jaune regained his composure as he figured that Mohji is low on Aura. A few more hits and that empowered state will disappear. A short endurance test could also be an option.

His musings were interrupted by the sight of the powered up Mohji leaping high in the air. He comically dived to dodge his fist, which sent a shockwave that blew him away as well as kick up a lot of dust. Jaune tumbled across the ground a bit before recovering, staring in shock of the destructive strength.

"Oh man, that was way too close. My bones would've been crushed if that hit me, even with Aura." Jaune said in a shaky tone. The smoke cleared to show a huge crater with a growling man in the center. It was as if he became a feral beast himself.

"You did well to evade it, but don't think that you'll get away a second time." Mohji said before running towards him. Jaune gritted his teeth in frustration, knowing that he can't remain on the defensive with that much power. His only chance is to counterattack without getting struck by him.

'If I remember right, Pyrrha mentioned that Zoro could launch blades of air by swinging his sword with a bit of strength and speed.' Jaune thought, putting his hopes on a skill he hasn't tried to perform. He knows that he's slowly getting stronger, but is it enough?

Holding his sword over his head, Jaune prepares for the final charge from Mohji. His body tensed as he gambled everything on this attack.

If he creates a flying slash, he'll hit the lion faunus before he could get close. If he fails... then he's as good as dead.

He lets out a roar as he pours every ounce of energy into his swing. Much to his joy, he succeeded to create a small flying slash. Not exactly as great as intended, but it'll still get the job done.

Mohji stared in surprise of the distant attack, leading to him receiving a hit from the sharp projectile. There wasn't any serious damage, but it depleted the rest of his Aura. Without it, his semblance deactivated, returning him to his original physique. Mohji was suddenly hit with fatigue as a drawback to his enhanced state, causing him to fall to his knees in exhaustion.

"D-dammit. How could I lose to a wimpy kid like you?" Mohji glowered, feeling shame in his loss. Jaune was panting heavily as he made his way to his shield and sheathed his sword.

"I'm too tired to explain, so I'll settle for knocking you out for good measure." Jaune said as he brought his sheathed sword down on Mohji's head, creating a lump. Mohji collapsed with his eyes rolled back while Jaune fell back and tried to catch his breath.

One down, four more to go.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Sorry to leave you with just one of the fights. I'm gonna be fitting the rest of the Buggy Gang fights in two chapters at most.**

 **On another note, Zoro has finally arrived and met up with Ruby and co.!**

 **If anyone could come up with a semblance for Cabaji, that would be appreciated since I'm drawing blanks for his.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	27. Bag of Tricks

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 27**

 _Pyrrha vs. Cabaji_

The swordsman was growing more frustrated by the minute as the Mistral celebrity fended off his swordplay. Each of his attacks were either evaded, blocked, or they mysteriously veer off course. Things weren't looking good for him if he keeps fighting fair.

So now he's gonna throw some sneaky attacks into the mix.

The two met in a deadlock, unable to push each other back. Cabaji smirked at his opponent as he formed a devious tactic, much to Pyrrha's confusion.

" **Kyokugi! Kaji Oyaji** ( _Acrobatics! Old Man's Flame_ )"

He started to breathe fire at her face, but he underestimated her quick reflex as she did a cartwheel backflip to dodge the flames and kick him in the jaw. The hit forced his mouth shut and sent him reeling back on his unicycle, rubbing his chin while glaring at the redhead.

"Impressive. You didn't even know what I was going to do, yet you were still quick on your feet." Cabaji observed with interest, causing Pyrrha to chuckle sheepishly.

'You'd be surprised by the number of Second Gear techniques that were thrown at me.' she thought with a sweatdrop. He was right that she had no idea about the attack, but his fire breath was much slower than a blurry punch even at point blank.

She focuses her attention back on the battle to see Cabaji holding tops in his hands. Pyrrha could only frown at the lack of seriousness, but keeps her guard up for what could be razor sharp tops.

" **Kyokugi! Kamikaze Hyakkoma Gekijo** ( _Dance of 100 Kamikaze Tops_ )"

He sends out a dozen tops towards her, only for them to separate into smaller ones and float around her. Pyrrha was left confused by the harmless attack.

Every direction was soon covered in a veil of small toys that are staying in the air, which she could assume was from the use of wind Dust. They weren't made of metal either, so she couldn't use her Polarity semblance to push them away.

Pyrrha was about to start cutting the tops down, but thought better of it since they could explode upon contact.

'Oh no!' she panicked as she realized the problem. The redhead was proven right as Cabaji threw his sword at one of the tops. As soon as they made contact, a chain reaction of explosions occurred all around her. Her screams of pain were muffled by the sound of the blasts, earning a smirk from Cabaji.

His eyes widened as he spotted a shield thrown out of the smoke towards him. Cabaji hopped over it, but failed to take the wall behind him into account. The shield bounced off the wall and connects with the back of his head, forcing him off his unicycle. The dazed acrobatic was left open as Pyrrha dashed out of the smoke and buried her fist into his gut, knocking the wind out of him.

One look on her face could tell that she was not amused in the slightest. In fact, she was embarrassed for dropping her guard at his recent attack, but did well not to show it.

She followed up her attack with a few more strikes with Milo before spinning to deliver an axe kick to send him back to the ground.

Cabaji stood back up while tenderly holding his stomach, shocked at the strength behind that punch.

Pyrrha switched her weapon to a rifle and proceeded to shoot him before he could perform any more tricks. Cabaji grabbed his unicycle by the seat and held it up in defense. The wheel turned till the center bore was facing the projectiles before transforming into a legitimate shield by expanding the wheel and covering the spokes in a layer of metal, blocking the bullets.

"Got any more tricks? You can't fight back without a sword." Pyrrha noted to the unarmed man, earning a chuckle from Cabaji.

"I have enough to leave you entertained." Cabaji said before fishing out another saber from of his mouth. Pyrrha had to hold back a gag in disgust at the display of sword swallowing.

"So, what do you think?" Cabaji asked.

"I think you have too many hobbies!" Pyrrha comically shouted. Cabaji could only sigh at her comment.

"It's a shame, but I'm going to finish this tight now." Cabaji boasted as he stabbed his sword into the ground.

" **Kyokugi! Tsunawatari Joki** ( _Acrobatics! Tightrope Vapor_ )"

The acrobat spins his sword like a windmill while blowing colored fumes out of his mouth to mix it in with the dust cloud formed from the sharp windmill.

Pyrrha readies herself for a sneak attack from the dust cloud, unaware of what the fumes he blended in are capable of. She spins on her heel to block a strike with her shield, but soon discovered a different problem when the dust cloud enveloped the two.

Her vision was seeing multiples and her sense of balance was very wonky, a bad combo that leaves her vulnerable.

Cabaji capitalizes on this and does a low sweep kick to trip her before swinging his leg up to kick her in the face.

Pyrrha was finding it difficult to stand back up due to her current state.

Whatever was in that cloud was screwing with some of her senses, yet her opponent seems unaffected. She couldn't even maintain a proper battle stance without her poor footing knocking her back down.

"What's the matter? You look like you're walking on a tightrope connecting two skyscrapers and decided to look down." Cabaji mocked as he kicked her around while she was attempting to stand.

By some miracle, Pyrrha stood up and rushed him with whatever attacks she can manage. But each of them resulted in her stumbling from loss of balance. Cabaji evaded her strikes with ease before tilting his body to place his empty hand on the ground. He then spun around on his hand, hitting the side of her head with the wheel of his unicycle.

'That has to be his semblance. He disorients his targets by having them inhale the fumes.' she realized as she laid on the ground shuddering in pain.

Off in the sidelines, Zoro clears out another group of gang members before looking to see how the others are holding up. On one side, an exhausted Jaune was sitting against a wall with an unconscious Mohji wrapped up with his own whip.

A bit impressed with the wimpy kid's victory, his gaze switches over to the girl from the Mistral Tournament.

He grits his teeth in anger as he sees Cabaji having her on the ropes. She should not be having a hard time with him and his parlor tricks, not with her skill.

"Oi! Mistral girl!" Zoro's voice bellowed, earning the attention of both fighters.

"What the hell are you doing, fooling around!? You were better than this in the tournament, so get a grip!" Zoro yelled, his words striking a nerve in Pyrrha.

The disorientation dissipated, allowing her to recover her sense of balance. The redhead's grip on her weapons tightened and her body was shaking in rage towards herself.

She really did want to beat Zoro someday, yet something else was stopping her from making any progress.

Her ambition.

After hearing about the many feats that Zoro had accomplished from Luffy, she felt her goal slip further away from her. Almost to the point that she felt like giving up on achieving what seems like an unattainable dream.

Much like how other people viewed her when she was idolized.

After a bit of thought, she realized just how half-assed her resolve was. She can say it all she wants, train as much as she wants. But in the end she lacks the ambition, the drive, to pursue her goal.

Now here she was, getting scolded from the very person she aims to defeat. That in itself was saying something.

Zoro's _expecting_ her to rise to his level. If she can't even beat Cabaji, then she has no right to face Zoro.

This served to rekindle the dimmed flames in her eyes, invigorated with new determination as she stood up.

"Amazing. Even after all of that, you still have the energy to stand up. Too bad you'll just end up on the ground again." Cabaji said in a cocky tone. Pyrrha stayed silent as he repeated his previous strategy.

From what she can gather, the fumes in the dust cloud have to be inhaled for it to work, leaving her with one option.

Pyrrha allowed the dust cloud to envelope her body, earning a chuckle from Cabaji.

"Have you gone mad!? You really want to lose, don't you?" Cabaji wondered about her sanity.

" **Kyokugi! Yama Noboro** ( _Acrobatics! Climbing the Mountain_ )"

The acrobat rode his unicycle until he was scaling the vertical beam a little ways up.

" **Kyokugi! Noryo Uchiage Hanabi** ( _Acrobatics! Cool Evening Firework Launch_ )"

Leaping high off the beam, Cabaji was positioned close to the ceiling above the dust cloud.

" **Ichirin Zashi** ( _Wheel Stab_ )"

He starts his descent towards the cloud with his sword pointed down, intending to impale her.

"This is it!" he declared, confident in his victory. His confidence turned into shock as he caught sight of Pyrrha leaping out of the cloud and heading towards him. He proceeded with the attack, but the she pushed his weapon aside with her semblance while delivering an uppercut with her shield arm.

The edge of her shield connected with his jaw, sending his head reeling before Pyrrha kicked off of him to escape the cloud. Cabaji managed to recover while still remaining on his unicycle then glared at the Mistral combatant.

"How? You shouldn't have been able to move, much less counter my attack." Cabaji snarled at her. He received no response as Pyrrha was gasping for breath, earning a confused look from him.

Her plan went without a hitch. If the vapor affected her as soon as she breathed it in, then all she had to do was take action in a single breath. Of course, he just _had_ to take his time setting up what would've been the finishing blow. Even when she was in the smokescreen, she could still get a clue as to where he was with him calling out his attacks.

Pyrrha would make a comment on that, but when she lectured Luffy on calling out his attacks she got an unspoken beating from him as a response.

 _"I'll fight however the hell I want! And just for that, I'll just beat your ass without saying anything!"_ she recalled his words with a shudder. In all honesty, she and the others should be thankful for his attack naming habit.

From his annoyed tone, it sounded like he got that a lot from others.

"Give it up now. You won't catch me off guard with that again." Pyrrha claimed. Judging from how he had high hopes for that tactic, that could've been his ace in the hole. Even if his swordsmanship is good, she's confident that she could overwhelm him now.

Cabaji gritted his teeth as he charged at her with his sword in hand, unable to surprise her with anymore tricks. Pyrrha sighed at his tenacity before switching her spear into its xiphos form and engaging him in combat.

The acrobat found out that something was different with her during their fast exchange of blades. Her eyes were far more focused, the mysterious force wasn't pushing his weapon off course, and she was slowly pushing him back as the redhead deftly parried each strike with far less effort than before while he could hardly defend himself with her attacks growing faster and stronger.

He thrusted with his saber, but Pyrrha spun around before kneeling to the ground and kicking him high in the air. Now without his unicycle, he was left in the air as the celebrity ran up the beam and jumped at him. Grabbing him by the scarf, Pyrrha spun a few times before hurling her opponent to the ground.

The unforgiving crash forced a pained gasp from him, unable to notice the teen slipping her feet into the strap of her shield as she dropped like a meteor. A crater formed when her shield met his gut, making his eyes roll back as he coughed up saliva.

Pyrrha leapt off of him to check the status of her foe, only to discover that he's unconscious.

"Pyrrha!"

She turns her attention to Jaune who was dragging Mohji along the ground. The redhead sighs in relief that he managed to win.

"Nice job." Zoro cuts in as he walked up to the two. The pair quirked a brow at his presence, wondering why he's not fighting any goons.

"Umm... where are the bad guys you were fighting?" Jaune asked. Zoro jerked a thumb behind him to show that his half of grunts were already taken out. Jaune and Pyrrha sweatdropped at the quick work he did when they fought their opponents.

"Well I think we should introduce ourselves since we know who you are. My name is Pyrrha and this is my team leader and partner, Jaune." She said while Jaune waved nervously. Zoro raised a brow at the boy's nervousness.

"He's your team leader? I figured that you would've been the leader." Zoro commented, causing Jaune to hang his head in defeat while Pyrrha laughs sheepishly.

"Well, whatever. With someone like Luffy, you would've never guessed that he's the captain of a pirate crew." Zoro brushed it off. There would be times that people thought that he was the captain with his seriousness demeanor, which suited the position better than a carefree boy.

"No kidding." they mumbled in agreement. While they stood in awkward silence, Jaune thought of a more pressing matter.

"We should do something about the devil fruit users." he noted.

"What do you mean? Your friends are taking care of them, aren't they?" Zoro wondered.

"I think he means _after_ they're taken care of. If seastones don't exist, how do we keep them restrained when they could escape with their devil fruit powers?" Pyrrha inquired of him, making the three stand in thought of the predicament.

"Even if we don't have them anymore, we could still use water." Zoro suggested, earning their attention.

"When devil fruit users come in contact with too much water, they become weak enough to the point that they can't use their abilities." he elaborated. Jaune widened his eyes at a thought until he started looking around the warehouse. His blue eyes fell upon a pile of barrels nearby.

"We're near water, right?" Jaune asked suddenly. The two quirked a brow at him.

"It's a bit of a walk from here. Why do you... oh." Pyrrha was about to ask, but it soon clicked when she stared at the barrels he was looking at. Zoro also shares her realization.

"We better get started then." Zoro concluded, earning nods of agreement. Perona flies over to the trio as they start to move the barrels.

"I'll come along, too." Perona piped in. The students were startled by her floating form, but quirked a brow as they took in her physique.

"Thanks, but I think we got it from here." Pyrrha politely turned down the offer. Judging by her appearance, the ghost girl looked a bit too weak to lift these barrels.

"Huh? I wasn't going to carry those things. I was going to make sure Zoro comes back here." Perona corrected their assumption. The two blinked a couple times until fists met palms in realization.

"That makes sense. We'd really appreciate it." the duo said in unison.

"I'm standing right here!" Zoro shouted with shark teeth.

* * *

 _Ruby and Blake vs. Alvida_

The duo kept their distance from the mace-wielding beauty, unsure of how to approach her. Growing curious of the devil fruit user's ability, Ruby shot her sniper at the woman. It went as expected when they saw the bullet make contact and slip off of her.

"You're going to have to do better than that." Alvida goaded. Seeing as neither are making a move, Alvida lunged at them with her mace over her head. The two evaded, but were left in shock of the crater she made as her weapon slammed onto the ground.

There was no way they could block an attack with that kind of strength. If they suffer a direct blow, they would surely have a rough time getting back up.

"How do you know Luffy?" Blake found herself asking. She thought it was a little suspicious that Alvida sounded so casual when talking about visiting him, making her wonder if there was an actual relationship or one-sided attraction.

She would have to guess the latter since Luffy has hardly seen the woman and is very oblivious to romantic affection.

"Curious, are we? We both fought each other the first time we met. I'll never forget that punch he gave to me." she started as she rubbed her exposed stomach in reminisce. Blake's eyes turned to saucers and her cheeks heated up as her mind went to a possible fantasy with the innuendo, not knowing that Alvida meant a literal punch to her gut.

The hidden faunus tried to convince herself that she meant something else entirely, but Alvida had to add more fuel into the flames of her fantasies.

"I never met a strong man like him, someone who was aggressive enough to send me soaring into the skies." Alvida went further into her recollection, making Blake's blush grow a deeper shade of red.

Ruby was standing in silence as she heard the short story. It was about the same exact thing Luffy told her: they fought for a little bit before Luffy launched Alvida off her ship by punching her gut. It was his first official fight on his journey.

The redhead looks over to her teammate to see her in a blushing mess for some odd reason. Panicking at the thought of an enemy attack, Ruby pulled Blake down to her level and started slapping her silly.

"Snap out of it, Blake! She was trying to hypnotize us into lowering our guard!" Ruby warned. Hypnotism was the only thing she could describe it as when someone was in a sort of trance like Blake was.

Alvida sweatdropped at the girl's assumption, knowing full well that she has no such powers.

Blake returned to reality as she decided to roll with the whole 'hypnotism' nonsense, which is far more favorable than chalking it up to her teenage mind blowing things out of proportion.

"Ow... Look out!" Blake shouted as she grabbed Ruby and jumped to dodge Alvida's mace. The mace wielder persisted on trying to crush the duo as she kept swinging her mace.

Through quick thinking, Blake combined the use of the Dust in her Gambol Shroud with her semblance. She left a clone in her place, but in the form of flames. Alvida got to close, the burning clone exploded. She was unable to slip through the blast radius, thus she was sent flying until she returned to the ground.

"Figured as much. She can't slip by the blast of a bomb." Blake confirmed.

"So we have to use bombs, flames, gusts of wind, and maybe electrocute her..." Ruby theorized with a bit of optimism, but soon hung her head in gloom at their options.

The two of them were the worst picks for Alvida since neither specialized in elemental attacks. And Blake's Dust-modifying semblance can only last for so long until she either runs out of Aura or Dust.

"Damn you, brats." Alvida growled out as she got back up, breaking them from their train of thought. The duo stood ready as she took off her footwear and ran towards them.

" **Sube Sube Spur** "

She then stopped running and used the frictionless feet to slide against the ground as if she was ice skating. She may not have a ramp to help pick up speed, but this will do for her.

Alvida activated her semblance, which covered her mace in a layer of Aura. As she passed by a drum barrel, she tapped the side of a drum barrel with the top of her mace. Much to their shock, the barrel was stuck on the mace to extend its range slightly.

From their observations, her semblance must be the exact opposite of her devil fruit ability. While her body is slippery, her Aura can act like an adhesive on objects she touches.

"Looks like you two are in a _sticky_ situation." Yang punned in the distance.

"Now's not the time for that!" Ruby and Blake yelled in unison.

Ignoring the banter, Alvida leaped into the air and hurled the barrel off of her mace by timing the deactivation of her semblance. The duo jumped to the side, but the canister exploded upon impact which blew the two away. They both rolled across the ground until they were left laying there groaning in pain.

"Ha! An eye for an eye." Alvida reveled in her explosive payback.

"Ugh... I didn't think there would be Dust in that barrel." Ruby muttered before she felt Alvida grab her by the back of her outfit. Her small frame was easily lifted into the air before her backside slammed against Blake's as the raven haired girl attempted to get up, sandwiching Blake.

"We have to do something! She's just toying with us because she knows that we don't have a lot to hit her with." Blake said in an annoyed tone. She tries to stand up again, but struggles as Ruby's weight is keeping her down. When she turns around to tell the fifteen year old to get off, Blake noticed that Ruby's entire backside is pinned to her own.

She deduced that Alvida used her semblance when she grabbed Ruby, indicating that the sticky Aura can be placed on other things.

"Terrific... now we're like Siamese twins." Blake muttered. Ruby laughed sheepishly at the trouble they're in.

"This could be it's own team exercise." Ruby shrugged off, trying to look at the bright side of things. They managed to get into a crab walking position, no matter how ridiculous the two looked.

They both look to their side to see Alvida sliding towards them, ready to swing her mace.

"Lets see you use that evasion that you pride yourselves in." she said with a smirk. The two widen their eyes in panic of the threatening mace.

"Sit!" Ruby ordered. Blake eagerly complied as the two plopped down with their legs outstretched.

"What!" Alvida shouted in shock as the mace whizzed over Blake's bow, scaring the girl at the thought of it being knocked off to reveal her cat ears. Feeling the top of her head, she sighs in relief when she felt the precious fabric.

They both got back to crab walking and fled from the woman while wondering how long the Aura glue lasts. Blake looks over to Alvida to see her gaining on them. Being stuck to Ruby really put a damper on their maneuverability, making them sitting ducks.

"Ruby, can you launch us with the sniper recoil?" Blake asked in urgency as Alvida was closing in.

"...I don't know why I didn't think of that." Ruby muttered.

Taking that as a 'yes', the two hopped before Ruby shot her sniper behind herself. Just as Alvida was bringing an overhead swing, Blake left a clone charged with electricity as the duo escaped.

When the former pirate struck the clone, the electricity danced across her metal mace and transferred into her body. Her body spasmed from electrocution as she yelled in pain.

"She's stunned! Lets get this glue off while we have the chance." Ruby said, earning a nod from Blake. With strenuous effort, they tried to pull away from each other. The Aura glue remained on their backs as it continued to stretch.

"J-just a little bit more... wah!" Ruby cried out as she lost her footing and returned to the starting point. The same thing happened to Blake, resulting in a collision with their bums.

The two grunted in discomfort when their butts grew sore.

"We're not trying that again." Blake concluded in a pained voice.

"Agreed. Hopefully this just wears off soon." Ruby before as she hissed at the abuse to her rear.

"I think it works through her conscious will. Either she releases us, or we knock her out." Blake deduced, causing Ruby to look dejected at the notion.

"Wow, never thought that you two would be butt buddies." Yang guffawed as she made another pun on the sidelines.

"Shut up and fight, Yang!" The duo shouted with shark teeth. They were starting to wonder how the blonde has the time to make jokes.

"You... brats." an angered voice piped in.

The two stood up and looked in dread of Alvida's rising anger. Seeing her approach the two, they were at a loss as to what they should do.

They're still stuck together, so fleeing was out of the question. Blake's semblance aided with Dust was starting to get old, and only a few elements have an offensive effect anyway.

Their thoughts were interrupted when Alvida clamped each of her hands around their throats and lifted them in the air. The two released their weapons in favor of prying off the hand that is blocking their respective airways.

"I'll crush you like the bugs you are." Alvida seethed before she tossed the two in the air and grabbing her mace.

Seeing as they weren't going to dodge this one, Blake pivoted their bodies so she would take the brunt of the mace.

Ruby turned her head in horror as her teammate braced herself, flashes of Luffy using his body as a shield filling her mind.

The mace made contact, causing their bodies to wrap around the mace. Blake could only cough up blood from the heavy blow, unable to scream in pain.

The woman flung them off her mace, sending them across the warehouse until they crashed into the wall, kicking up dust. Feeling certain of her victory, Alvida deactivated her semblance, releasing the two from each other as they laid in a heap.

Ruby groaned as her body was sore all over. Her silver eyes went wide when she realized she wasn't stuck to Blake any longer. She searched for her companion, only to see the the girl's unmoving form.

"Blake!" she called out. Her voice caught Alvida's attention, shocking the woman.

Blake slowly opened her eyes, taking in the sight of Ruby tearing up. It made her feel guilty for taking the hit for her. But if she didn't, both of them would've been taken out.

Yet she has this gnawing feeling that she made Ruby dig up some dreadful memories.

Ruby lets out a shaky breath of relief before fishing out a familiar green orb. She sat the hidden faunus up against the wall and fed the medicine ball. She might be overreacting, but she wanted to be sure that Blake would be fine after taking such an intense blow.

It also gives a bit of relief when she can actually do something instead of watching helplessly.

After Blake managed to swallow the orb, Ruby felt her instincts kick as she wrapped her arms around the older girl and used her speed semblance to dodge a blow from the incoming mace.

Ruby glared at the woman, to which Alvida returned.

"I'm really surprised that you're still up. But without her, you can no longer hurt me." Alvida said. Ruby ignored her as she focused on the window behind Alvida.

"It's not over yet." Ruby said as she knelt down and prepared herself for a dash, confusing the two.

In a flurry of rose petals, she pushed the limits of her semblance as she flew past Alvida with incredible speed.

A strong wind started to blow against Alvida, forcing her to hold her ground. Forgetting about her bare feet, she slid back a bit until her feet left the ground. Left at the mercy of the air pressure, Alvida was spinning through the air until she crashed through a window leading outside the warehouse.

She barely caught sight of the young girl below the window along with some leftover grunts that were also victims of the gust of wind.

'She formed a tunnel of high air pressure using her speed.' Alvida figured out.

Outside the warehouse, Jaune and the others gathered the three barrels of water near the building and decided to take a break from the heavy lifting.

At least for Jaune's case.

"Whew... now we just stow the devil fruit users into here then we should be good to go." Jaune told the three, feeling winded from carrying the barrels.

After using up all of his strength in the fight and the exhausting trek, he's ready to keel over and take a nap.

"You can't be _that_ tired. Come on, toughen up." Perona berated him for his poor stamina.

"This coming from the girl that didn't lift a finger." Pyrrha muttered with a sweatdrop.

"Hey, keeping track of this oaf is mentally exhausting. Turn your back on him for a few seconds, and he'll be on his way to the edge of Vale." Perona defended while pointing at Zoro.

"My directions are perfectly fine!" Zoro rebuked.

The arguement came to a halt when Alvida landed straight into one of the barrels with a splash.

"D-dammit! My strength is fading." she said as her body went slack. The group stared at her weakened form with neutral eyes. Perona decided to call up some Negative Hollows and phase through the woman for good measure. The amount of water used might not be enough to completely immobilize her, so she'll keep her depressed to prevent her from struggling.

They were very lucky considering that she had the most annoying power out of the three.

"...This is going to be weird for the police." Jaune realized. Instead of handcuffs, the cops are going to have to keep the DF users in the water barrels which could raise some questions.

The others could only nod in agreement to his statement as they looked around for anything that can keep Alvida from climbing out without the ghosts.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Alvida's fight was such a pain. Nothing much was said about how to counteract her devil fruit powers, so this is the best I could come up with.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	28. Battle of Wits

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 28**

 _Weiss and Ren vs. Mr. 3_

Mr. 3 felt like he was being backed into a corner by his opponents. He was forced to block out Ren's hailstorm of bullets by forming a dome of wax, reducing any chance of the two hitting him. The heiress was the more clever of the two as she used her heated rapier to melt through the wax he created and deliver a few strikes before backing off.

The man stumbled before glaring at the nuisance.

" **Candle Lock** "

He shot a small torrent of wax at the pair, stopping their approach. Weiss tried to jump over it, but some of the wax enveloped her legs, immediately hardening like quick cement in the shape of a candle.

Weiss struggles against the material binding her to the floor before sighing at the futile attempt as she stabs her rapier into the wax, melting it into a liquid state to free herself.

"It's clear to me that you're the more obnoxious one of the bunch." Mr. 3 noted with gritted teeth. The heiress has shown to be just as crafty as Luffy when his wax powers come into play. Whether it was using it against him or exploiting its weakness to heat, he was always being countered easily.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Weiss said as she held her stance. Unlike _some_ people, she came fully prepared for whatever abilities they'd be facing before the battle started by bringing a large amount of fire Dust.

His style of combat is nothing short of a disappointment. The main focus is all about trapping his opponents in wax. But with her fire Dust, escaping it is more of a chore than anything considering that it takes a while for the wax to melt.

" **Doru Doru Arts: Ken** ( _Sword_ )"

Swords were formed out of wax before Mr. 3 launched them at the pair. They evaded the projectiles, but were stunned to see the weapons dig into a cargo crate behind them.

"Even if they're made of wax, it's as tough as steel unless you melt it." Ren noted.

"That may be, but Mr. 3 himself is a complete wimp without his wax." Weiss argued a point. Their opponent plays the role of a long ranged fighter, trapper, and supporter if he had someone to lean on. There was no evidence that showed that he could handle close quarters combat on his own.

"Say what you want, but I still have another trick up my sleeve." Mr. 3 warned with a smug grin.

" **Candle Legion** "

He spreads out a large amount of wax before forming it into a small army of wax knights carrying a sword and shield. He then sent out small orbs of what could be assumed to be his Aura into each knight. A pair of white orbs appeared in the visors as they started to move on their own.

Weiss was looking impressed at how his semblance functioned. He seems to be able to imbue life into statues with his Aura, complimenting his devil fruit since he could make an army of mindless soldiers.

"My knights, crush those two." Mr. 3 ordered, causing the knights to start their march towards the two with the intent of following their master's order.

The two narrowed their eyes at the army closing in on them before they leapt into the fray.

Ren was met with a difficult struggle as his Storm Flower doesn't have the firepower to deal with his foes. The hardened wax was too tough for the blades to cut through as well, making his weapons ineffective.

One of the knights brought down its sword, to which he sidestepped out of the way. Another knight came from behind and went for his side. Ren barely dodged it by ducking under the wax sword, only to hear a sound as if it hit something.

He turns to see the second knight's blade embedded into the first knight.

'If my weapon is useless against these guys, then I'll have to make them hit each other.' Ren concluded. The idea would be tricky to pull off since it involves him being swarmed by these knights, but he's left with no other choice.

Putting his weapons away, Ren stood beside the blade as he threw a palm thrust amplified by Aura. His palm sent a shockwave strong enough for the blade to finish cleaving through the wax creation, bisecting the puppet which caused the glowing eyes to fade.

He turns to meet another knight bringing its blade down on him with another behind it. Ren sent a palm strike to counter the blade, resulting in a strong recoil that forced the sword over the wielder's head and dig into the head of the one behind it. He backs away from them as he assesses the situation.

"The Aura disappears after the puppet 'dies'?" Ren wondered to himself, but was proven inaccurate as the knight with a sword lodged into its skull remained alive. That would help their situation as they can indirectly diminish Mr. 3's reserves this way, but they still had to figure out what counts as killing the knights.

He risks a glance at his main opponent to see that he is covered by a line of knights carrying spears and giant shields in order to keep the two from charging at him.

Weiss grimaced when she saw the strategy he made. He was locking them both in an endurance match against the numerous wax soldiers. If they can take a majority out without suffering extreme exhaustion, then he would have no choice but to resort to another tactic.

She pushed those thoughts aside in favor of charging at one of the knights. A few seconds after the thrust that landed on the heart made the rapier run through the wax, but it didn't take it out.

'They don't seem to function under the premise of having any vital organs, but they have to be in fighting condition. We have to dismember the soldiers in order to defeat them.' Weiss realized.

She uses a glyph to slide away from the surviving knight, pulling her rapier out before the sword could hit. It stumbled into the glyph, giving Weiss the idea to stab Myrtenaster into the glyph to change it from white to red. A pillar of flames erupted, causing the wax to melt into a puddle.

Given no time to relax, Weiss jumped over a knight that tried to strike at her back. For foes that hold an occupation known for their bravery, these knights sure love to commit a cowardly act.

The attacker turns with a swing of its sword, but Weiss summoned another red glyph to block it. The glyph held as the wax sword started to melt from prolonged contact.

She may as well refer to this new sort of glyph as a heat glyph since she's concentrating on creating thermal energy with fire Dust. Creating heat was more conservative than forming flames, making Aura and Dust management easier on her.

The knight held up its shield in anticipation for an attack, but Weiss aimed at the left thigh in order to melt the limb off. The wax creation fell to the ground, leaving it vulnerable to have the rest of its limbs melt.

Mr. 3 gritted his teeth at the loss of his knights. At this rate, he'll be left with very little Aura to defend himself.

"Retreat!" Mr. 3 ordered. The knights complied and fell back towards him as he retrieved the Aura he used to keep them active, causing them to be lifeless husks.

The two were lightly panting in exhaustion as they took the chance to catch their breath.

"That was rather impressive. Not many can handle my army of knights with such ease." Mr. 3 commented, keeping his composure. Weiss snorted at that, earning a confused look.

"The only reason we can handle them so well is because of you." Weiss explained, now confusing Ren.

"What do you mean?" Mr. 3 inquired with narrowed eyes.

"Your semblance has a bit of a flaw. Since it's your Aura inhabiting them, those knights are moving based on your own experiences. Their swordsmanship is sloppy and they have no qualms with attacking your back. It says a lot about you, huh?" she elaborated with a smug grin. The actions of the knights reflect his character, from his lack of experience in direct combat to his cowardice.

Mr. 3 clenched his teeth in anger of being figured out.

"You can use your semblance over and over again, but it won't make them any stronger. You have to improve yourself if you want to get anywhere." Weiss lectured, but blinked in surprise of her own words. She meant it as a fact about his semblance, but somehow it came out more like a display of wisdom than intellect.

"Like you're one to talk." Ren muttered in an amused tone. While that is true, she also needs to practice what she preaches.

"Hey! You're just as bad when it comes to stamina." Weiss defended, earning an eye roll. Her intellect is as sharp as ever, but her physical fitness has been improving through those Armament exercises. Her instructors may have been rough back home, but Luffy just makes sparring a living hell as he leaves them with sore bodies afterwards.

She's really starting to miss the most basic of workouts.

"So you think you have a chance because of that?" Mr. 3 said in a low tone, earning their attention.

"I thought I had Straw Hat all figured out. But he still defeated me, despite the advantage. I'm going to prove that point by defeating you!" Mr. 3 yelled out as he hurled a huge heap of wax at the two.

They both got out of the way before Ren stared at Weiss accusingly. While she may not have meant to egg him on, it could've been avoided by simply shutting up. Weiss avoids his gaze, knowing she did something stupid.

"Don't stare at me like that! I know it's my fault! I'm just surprised that I blurted that out without thinking!" she shouted in defense.

"Just like Luffy?" Ren asked with a smirk.

"Exactly like..." Weiss started, but then stopped to think about what she was going to say before screaming into her hands.

Luffy's stupidity became so contagious that some of his traits can rub off on people. Weiss may have gotten some of that in the form of insulting people without trying to.

The blob of wax they evaded morphed into the shape of an armored horse as Mr. 3 jumped and covered himself in wax. The wax itself morphed into the form of a suit of armor to protect its user. In one hand is a two pronged spear, while the other holds a kite shield.

" **Candle Cavalry** "

The horse sprung to life by his semblance before it galloped towards the two. They both dived to the sides to avoid getting trampled by the wax creature.

Considering its larger size, the amount of Aura used to bring life to the horse must be far higher than the knights. His semblance requires a bit more strategy than others since he has to choose between quality over quantity.

"It's about time he done something himself." Weiss muttered to herself. They assumed to much in thinking he has no other skills aside from trapping people in wax. She summons a glyph in the air before jumping up to it, using it as a foothold as she angles herself towards the horseback rider. When he made a U-turn to make another pass, Weiss launched herself at Mr. 3.

He raised his kite shield to block her rapier, but it wasn't melting fast enough.

" **Candle Jacket** "

Wax shot out of his shield, catching Weiss by surprise and sent her falling to the ground. The wax hardened, leaving only her hands, feet, and head visible. She struggled in vain while her rapier was a foot away from her.

Mr. 3 strode by her in preparation to stab her with his spear.

"I'm sure you are aware that my wax can be destroyed by my own creations. Even then, I could just turn the center to its liquid state to pierce through. You're as good as dead now." Mr. 3 gloated as he thrust his spear at the center of the jacket, where it started to look goopy. His grin turned to shock as a palm strike sent his spear off course, missing the heiress by mere inches.

"Took you long enough." Weiss said. Ren's expression stayed neutral, internally wondering if it would kill her to say 'thank you'.

Mr. 3 gritted his teeth as he swung his spear at the boy, but Ren flipped over it. The candle man thrusted his spear at him, but he turned the head into liquid wax as it caught Ren's legs. He then hurled Ren off his spear, sending him crashing into some crates.

"Ren!" Weiss called out. Feeling a sense of urgency, she tried to reach for her weapon to melt the wax. Mr. 3 had a devious smirk at a more sadistic method. He throws a little more wax at Weiss, covering her mouth and nose. The heiress widened her eyes at the mask of wax on her.

"There we go! While I take care of your teammate, you can suffer asphyxiation." he said as he left her trapped and smothered. Weiss was horrified by his approach, realizing that the wax has effectively cut her off from the oxygen. She tried once more to reach the rapier, but it was too far from her confined arm.

On Ren's side, the boy groaned as he climbed out of the debris. Hearing the sound of hooves, he leaned his body to avoid the incoming spear that whizzed over him.

" **Doru Doru Arts: Mori** ( _Harpoon_ )"

He forms a wax harpoon and launches it at Ren. He jumped over it, but had to pivot his body to avoid a second harpoon. Mr. 3 rushed at him with his steed and caught Ren in between the two prongs on his spear before molding the head to close around Ren's waist.

Ren wasted no time in drawing Storm Flower and unloaded both clips in an effort to somehow hit a chink in the armor. He had no such luck when he ran out of bullets. Mr. 3 grinned at his failed attempt before swinging him around, smashing Ren into the ground on occasion.

Weiss couldn't believe how quick things have turned around on the two. The fight was rather easy at first, but things went downhill as soon as Mr. 3 felt motivated to prove a point. This only served as a lesson on how unpredictable battles against people can be, especially when they have a devil fruit.

She keeps the thought in mind as the lack of oxygen is starting to take its toll. She could feel her pulse rising and her vision was beginning to blur. Forming up a hasty idea, she managed to summon a glyph on her rapier and motioned it towards her. At the moment that she got a hold of it, she spun the blade until it was touching her suffocating mask.

Weiss shook her head to get rid of the melted wax before taking in a sharp breath of air. After a few coughs, she took her time to control her breathing as she got rid of the carbon dioxide in her body in favor of oxygen.

"Ha... ha... I almost passed out." she said in relief. She made quick work on the jacket that kept her firmly on the floor before hurrying to Ren's location. When she arrived, Ren was just thrown off the spear and slammed onto the ground.

His body was racked in pain, muscles were sore from abuse, and he couldn't find the energy to move. But he won't accept it as the end, not now.

"Oh, too tired? Then I guess I'll put you to sleep." Mr. 3 concluded as he prepared to impale the downed boy. Before he could do anything, he noticed how the air was in a haze and was starting to sweat profusely.

He quirked a brow at the sudden rise of temperature before he gaped when his steed was melting on top of a heat glyph. At the rate that it's going, his horse and his armor of wax would absorb too much heat and then leave him with nothing to protect himself from said heat.

"What!" he yelled in shock as he tried to pull his horse away from the glyph. It turned out to be too late as the legs turned into goop, causing the two to fall.

"Took you long enough." Ren turned the statement back on Weiss. Mr. 3 was wide eyed at the sight of the girl with her rapier stabbed into the ground.

"At least I have asphyxiation as an excuse." she countered, scowling at her opponent. Mr. 3 returned the scowl as he thought that she had no chance of escape.

The wax was unable to maintain solid form, leaving Mr. 3 without his armor. The wax horse also 'died', crushing his Aura reserves.

"Not good, this heat is reminding me of Impel Down." Mr.3 recalled as he started to melt a little.

"Would you kindly hurry up, Ren? I can't keep this up." Weiss demanded. As long as he's exposed to high temperatures, he can't form any proper wax creations for more than a few seconds. He doesn't look like he is about to escape the glyph any time soon. Though her Aura was dwindling at a steady pace as she kept applying the heat glyph.

Ren nodded his head in understanding. He fought his way to a standing position and then dragged himself to him.

Mr. 3 could only look with horrified eyes as Ren gave one last palm strike to his abdomen. Thanks to fine Aura manipulation, the amplified effect caused his body to fold and sent him crashing into a crate.

The two were panting as they stared at their defeated opponent, eyes rolled back indicating that he's unconscious. Ren's body finally gave out and fell back to the ground. Weiss's knees felt weak as she used Myrtenaster as support.

"You know... for someone who's nicknamed 'Ice Queen', you sure used a lot of fire Dust." Ren commented.

"Not like I had much of a choice in the matter." Weiss said in a dry tone. None of the other elements would have helped her against wax that's as hard as steel, cutting down on her options. She could send him flying in the air with wind Dust, but then what?

The two sat in silence as they recover whatever energy they could, but was broken by another voice.

"So you took him out." Bellamy spoke up, making the pair turn to him. Weiss scoffed at the obvious statement.

"Of course we did. I'm guessing since you're here that means you've taken care of your end, brute?" Weiss wondered, earning a chuckle from him for the brute comment. He'll admit that his methods are rather vicious, what with him beating his foes like a savage.

"That's right. So how was your first taste of a real fight?" he asked, the question being meant for Weiss as opposed to Ren. He's familiar with the Schnee family, and he had a feeling Weiss has lead a difficult life without having to fight to the death against living people.

"What do you mean? I've had plenty of dangerous fights." Weiss answered in a haughty tone. Bellamy lets out a deep sigh at the misunderstanding.

"I mean your first fight against a person that is willing to kill you. Feels a lot different than fighting mindless Grimm, doesn't it?" he elaborated. Weiss was about to retort, but her words went silent as his settled into her mind.

"Hmph! As if I need you to remind me." Weiss turned her head away in a snobbish manner. She does admit that it's entirely different. All Grimm have a single mindset to kill people with varying methods. Humans... are a more fickle bunch.

"Let this battle serve as a warning. One of these days, I'll be your opponent. And make no mistake, I'll fight you with everything I've got and try to kill you. Straw Hat Luffy may be our common friend, but that won't stop me from doing as I please." he warned before leaving the two to their thoughts. He uses his spring legs to leap out of the warehouse as well as the surrounding area, feeling no need to stick around for the police.

"I'd be surprised if he didn't come at us with the intent to kill." Weiss smirked.

* * *

 _Yang and Nora vs. Buggy_

" **Bara Bara Ho** ( _Cannon_ )"

The two students had cheeky grins on their faces as they continued to evade each of his hands carrying four knives. The knife wielder himself was fuming in rage of the accursed blonde.

Even when they knew that he was the head honcho of the group, Yang joked around as if he wasn't a serious threat. To add insult into injury, she went as far as commentating on the group up against Alvida. To make matters worse, the brawler committed the one taboo that his crew placed on each other.

 _"With a huge nose like that, I would've thought you could honk a horn with it."_

"Damn you! I make you pay for mocking my nose!" Buggy seethed as he kept wildly attacking the offensive blonde in blind rage.

Yang held a grin as she smoothly evaded the small blades with ease due to his loss of composure. Considering Buggy's history with the straw hat, Yang took an extra precaution by having it hang behind her by a string to make sure he doesn't hit it.

She grew bored of the evasion as she threw a punch to his face after dodging another knife.

" **Bara Bara Kinkyu Dasshutsu** ( _Emergency Escape_ )"

His head popped up to evade the punch, but he failed to notice Nora's hammer smash the side of his floating head. Yang took advantage of the attack and dealt a few blows to his headless body. The two laughed at the sight of his head bouncing off any obstructions in the way like a pinball.

"Yow! I've had enough of you two!" he shouted at the pair.

" **Muggy Ball** "

Yang jumped back to avoid a kick from the headless body, but barely dodged the bullet that sprung out from the sole of his foot. Her eyes widened when she heard a loud explosion go off behind her. She doesn't need to turn around to witness its destructive power.

"Oh boy... Nora, watch out for the bomb in his foot." Yang called out.

"Got it! Although it would've helped if Luffy mentioned that." Nora complained, causing Buggy to seethe in anger.

"He doesn't remember my Muggy Ball!?" he shouted in disbelief once his head reattached to his body.

"Nope!" they said in unison. Buggy had a look of gloom at the answer.

The attack was his pride and joy next to the Buggy Ball, going so far as to change one letter in the name. Yet the straw hat kid has no recollection of it, as if it wasn't threatening.

"Wow... you must have a lot of faith in it if you get depressed over it being forgotten." Nora commented, trying to get some backstory on his favorite attack.

"Exactly! I destroyed an entire town with a Buggy Ball. The Muggy Ball was just a transportable version." he ranted with a reignited passion. Yang quirked a brow at the first bit.

"Was this the same town that you met Luffy at?" she asked. Buggy's passionate expression morphed into one of rage as he remembered all of his misfortunes.

"Don't even get me started! Ever since I met that bastard, my life has taken a turn for the worse! I lost most of my body after he defeated me, got captured and sent to Impel Down, dragged into the War of the Best, and lost some of my best men to Straw Hat." Buggy listed off as he threw a tantrum. The two stared at him with half lidded eyes and crossed arms as he gave his spiel.

"Is that so?" they both said in a dull tone while tilting their heads. Tickmarks grew on Buggy's head at their uncaring demeanor. If it were Luffy, he would most likely be picking his nose and ignoring him.

"'Is that so'!? Your damn cousin has caused me so many problems!" he shouted back with shark teeth.

"And it all started with you blowing up a town. You had what was coming to you!" Nora argued an obvious point. Buggy was being very unreasonable considering where it all started. He blames everything on her crazy friend, yet he's the one that screwed himself over by messing with the townsfolk.

"Like hell I did! He shouldn't even be involving himself with someone else's problems." he countered.

His incessant whining was starting to annoy Yang, making her want to shut him up.

And so she decided to follow through with it by shooting several rounds at him. Buggy comically screamed before separating his body into small chunks to dodge the shells.

"Why don't you look at all the good that came out of your bad luck. You made an alliance with Alvida after Luffy sent you to who-knows-where. He helped you escape Impel Down with prisoners that later followed you along with Mr. 3, while also giving with that thing that was a clue to finding some treasure." she started listing off some of the trade-offs.

Buggy was slowly shrinking away as those words rung true.

"Lets not forget you became a Warlord after the war you got dragged into. Weren't you also getting business after Doflamingo was taken out, even when you lost some manpower." Yang ranted on the positive side of the spectrum.

Nora sweatdropped as the argument persisted, wondering when it will ever end so they can get back to physical violence. Buggy was blinking owlishly as the blonde laid out each fact.

"How does that idiot know all of that?" he asked in curiosity. Most of the things she said were facts that Luffy wouldn't pay attention to. So how did she gather that much from him?

"It's... complicated." Yang said sheepishly, dodging the question. While Luffy was never one for details, the memories from his semblance along with their families' inferences made it possible to put two and two together.

Meeting Alvida was more of a hunch to them since she appeared with Buggy in Loguetown. The Impel Down part was directly from Luffy's experience, while the status of Warlord and his business was the combination of Robin's knowledge and their theories.

"Are we done yet? Because I want to beat up a clown." Nora interjected. All this talking was getting them nowhere and was really boring to listen to. She doesn't know much of anything about what happened, keeping her out of the loop. What was Impel Down? Who are the Warlords? All this talk being thrown around and she has no idea what it's about.

"Other than the public execution he tried to pull off on Luffy, I got nothing." Yang said before she started to snicker at the story. Buggy was mere inches from beheading Luffy, but a lightning bolt struck the two on the gallows. Sometimes she wonders if it was pure luck, divine intervention, or the possibility that Dragon did that since he was also there at the time.

Buggy felt a vein throbbing at the mention of his failure.

" **Bara Bara Senbei** ( _Rice Cracker_ )"

They turn to the clown to see the lower half of his body cartwheeling towards them with blades jutting out the front of his shoes. Nora ducked under the improvised shuriken while Yang hopped over it.

The blonde was shocked when she spotted another pair of legs performing the same attack, as if it was cloned. Yang pivoted her body to the side, but got cut on the side before falling to the ground. She held her side as she sucked in a breath.

"Looks like I get the last laugh!" Buggy announced as gave out a maniacal laugh.

The two stared on with narrowed eyes as his lower half returned to him, but the second one is nowhere to be scene. Now they're under the assumption that his semblance is cloning his body.

" **Bara Bara Ho** **Kirihanashi** ( _Cannon Dismember_ )"

He shot a fistful of knives once more at Nora, including a bit of his forearm. She grinned at the straightforward attack and caught it by the forearm, but tilted her head to the side as she barely dodged the ongoing attack.

"That was close. He separated his hand from his forearm to catch me off guard." Nora gathered. Buggy pressed the offense by shooting a barrage of 'cannons' using his semblance, forcing the two to slip through the onslaught.

" **Chi wo Hau Bara Bara Ho** ( _Ground Runner_ )

While they were distracted with the knives, he sent his hands low to the ground and grabbed one leg each. The pair were surprised by this as it held them still, even more so when the knives stopped coming. Before they could free themselves, several Muggy Balls covered their vision.

Apparently he could clone his ammunition, which makes the tiny bomb more devastating.

Bracing for the incoming pain, Yang was left confused when a single blast was felt on her body. Yang and Nora flew out of the smoke and rolled across the ground with their ears ringing, Buggy laughing in victory.

'Something isn't right here. There were so many of them, yet only one went off.' Yang pondered. Thinking about it now, why did he just grab one leg when he could clone his hands and grab both?

Much to the clown's chagrin, the pair of students stood back up.

"That really hurt. His cloning semblance sure is nasty." Nora commented. There was no way they could take another one like that.

She turns to her partner to see the blonde looking down, deep in thought. It must be serious if someone like Yang has to stop and think.

"Dammit! Why does it seem like everyone I hit with a Muggy Ball doesn't stay down!?" Buggy exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Yang was drawing blanks as far as the quirk in his semblance is concerned. She's going to have to resort to something crazy to move things along.

"Nora..." she called over the hammer wielder. Nora lent an ear as Yang whispered. The girl had an ear to ear grin at the idea before giving Yang a mock salute and leave.

"You're not going anywhere!" Buggy shot his hand out to catch Nora. Pain coursed through his arm when Yang caught the fleshy projectile in a tight grip.

He gritted his teeth at the interference as he shot and cloned his hand full of daggers at the brawler.

Yang steeled herself in preparation of sharp cuts, having no intention of dodging them to test a theory. Thinking of ideas wasn't her forte as she would rely on Weiss for that, but right now that isn't an option.

She kept her eyes peeled for anything odd as they approached. Shifting her gaze a little lower, a brow was raised at a peculiar finding. The knives were supposed to cut her, but to her astonishment they just phased through her. That is until one set of knives struck her thigh, causing her to let go of the appendage she was holding hostage as she held back a shout.

Buggy was triumphant at the damage inflicted until he saw Yang look at him with confidence.

"That stung a bit, but now I know your gimmick." Yang said.

"You're bluffing." he challenged before sending a scatter shot of Muggy Balls. Yang scanned the ground for what she found earlier.

'There!' she thought. Looking back up, she twisted her body to dodge a select area while the rest phased through her. Her grin only grew when she was met with success in the form of a blast behind her.

"W-What!" he shouted in shock. Thinking that was purely luck, he was about to attack again before Nora chimed in.

"Hey Buggy! Me and my subjects are taking your treasure to my castle!" Nora taunted as she held a crate of jewels over her head. Behind her were the rest of the students minus Pyrrha and Jaune with crates in their hands.

"Why are we doing this again?" Ruby inquired, struggling to hold the heavy box. The others had similar problems as they're sore from their battles.

"To make the bait more appealing!" Nora replied in a chipper tone. The four sweatdropped at the answer.

Buggy literally flew over to them in a rage as he sought to reclaim his precious treasure by separating the upper half in pursuit. He made sure to duplicate his legs in case Yang has any ideas.

'There's no way she could find the real one amongst them again.' he thought.

She rolled her eyes at the numerous legs wondering about then searching through them. Staring at one pair of legs, she had a glint in her eyes at the thought of pulling a Luffy.

"Give me back my treasure, you bastards!" Buggy roared as he loomed over them. While the four had a cold sweat, Nora was unfazed at the sight. His face soon distorted into one of excruciating pain. They couldn't help but snort at the silly face he put up.

Back in the field of legs, Yang had her leg swing up between the real one.

"Hook, line, and sinker." she mumbled with a cheeky grin. The fakes disappeared while Buggy fell to the floor whimpering.

"M-m-my balls." he rasped out. To add insult to injury, Blake dropped her crate on top of him.

"You heard him. Give him the treasure." Blake remarked as she dusted her hands off. The rest complied as the followed her example one at a time. Each of them was like getting sandwiched by a sack of bricks.

They stepped to the sidelines as Yang and Nora wanted to finish him off. Yang threw the legs into the pile of crates they dropped then lifted the upper half by his head. He was left in a daze, unable to muster up the strength to call back his limbs.

"Your semblance isn't really cloning, it's making copied images to fool us. We can see them, but they are not actually there." Yang informed. Nora was beginning to realize what she's talking about.

When he threw the leg shuriken thing, the first one wouldn't have hurt them.

When he grabbed each of their legs, he only has one set of hands and he couldn't use the fake cannons lest the nature of his semblance be discovered.

And the reason why there was only one blast when there should've been several was because he only shot one Muggy Ball.

All of this was pointing out the limitation that his real body and ammunition are the only things that can hurt them.

"H-how did you find me?" Buggy wheezed. He was baffled that the blonde managed to find the real thing not once, but twice.

"Shadows." Yang answered, confusing the others until Weiss cuts in.

"She means that since the fakes don't have a material existence, they don't leave shadows. The only shadow she could find is the one to your real body. Same concept with mirages." Weiss elaborated in a tired tone. If it was solely an image, then it also has no mass to block the light which creates shadows.

"Uhh... yeah, what she said." Yang confirmed sheepishly. With the discussion done, she activated her semblance to cause her hair to glow and her eyes to turn red. She internally thanked the explosion for giving the damage needed.

Meanwhile, Nora lifted Magnhild over her head as she aimed at the legs that laid on top of the crates.

They simultaneously delivered the final blow with their respective weapons. Buggy's torso folded as he was sent flying until he smashed against the wall, forming a dent to fit him. In a shower of shiny treasures, his legs laid in a large crater unmoving. The spectators had to use their arms to shield themselves from the raining jewels.

The duo high fived each other before Yang took the straw hat off to inspect it. After seeing no cuts, Yang sighs in relief as she places it back on her head.

"When I think about it, this proves that Yang is able to use her brain first instead of her fist." Weiss realized, astonishing the red and black duo.

"Well her semblance turns damage into power. Maybe it also makes her smarter." Ruby theorized.

"Ah. So we have to beat her head in with a book if she needs to learn something." Blake concluded.

"That's not how it works." Zoro noted with a sweatdrop.

Tickmarks loomed over Yang's head as she heard each jab to her intelligence, tempted to pop each of their noggins.

"Wait a second... couldn't you have figured out his semblance if you _blocked_ his attacks?" Ruby wondered.

An awkward silence fell upon them when they thought about, making Yang forget the past insults. If they did block the fake attacks, the two would've found out as the fakes phased through.

"Meh, we still won." Yang shrugged, causing them to sweatdrop.

Three metallic thuds startled the group, turning to find Jaune's group with the captured criminals. Mohji and Cabaji were held back to back by chains, while Alvida and Mr. 3 were in drum barrels full of water.

The devil fruit users were still being touched by the Negative Hollows since they couldn't come up with any ideas as to how to keep them in the barrel without the ghosts.

"Hello." Pyrrha waved. They blinked a few times at the sight before prying Buggy out of the dent.

"He's all yours." They said as they handed both halves over, seeing as they can handle restraining duty.

"Oi, Jaune. You chop one half while I'll get the other." Zoro said. The immunity to cuts is passive, even when he's unconscious.

Jaune nodded his head while drawing his sword.

What proceeded to follow was scary to the audience as the two swordsman sliced the clown into tinier bits like a vegetable. Their expressions were one of boredom, as if this was a hassle.

To finish it up, Jaune scooped up the pieces and dumped them into the vacant barrel before closing the top. Only Buggy's head was left in one piece as he left it on top of the barrel

"Since that's over with, can you freeze the surface on the other two Weiss?" Pyrrha requested.

The heiress complied to the celebrity's request and used ice Dust to make a couple inches of the water freeze up, locking Mr. 3 and Alvida in. The ice was also glued to the edges of the barrel.

"Mission accomplished! Where's Bellamy?" Ruby cheered before looking around for their informant.

"He left already." Weiss informed her, causing the young leader to pout. She wanted to at least thank him for the help.

* * *

After sorting things out with the law enforcement, everyone was on their way to the bullhead that'll take them back to Beacon.

While the police did question the condition of the captives, they had enough time to come up with a story while giving them insight for the future. They simply played it off as something they found out as they fought them, things like the D.F's weakness to water and each of their powers.

Hopefully, the police will have a better time handling other D.F users.

The green haired swordsman was speed walking ahead of them while Perona used Hollows to steer him in the right direction. Warning Luffy of Cipher Pol's existence was a priority at the moment. They can prove to be very dangerous, and his captain needs to be prepared for it.

"Geez Zoro, wait up! It's not like Beacon is moving anywhere." Yang joked. He only went as far as getting their names since he's going to be with Luffy, which in turn means being around them as well.

While his rude demeanor isn't helping them, something serious must be going on if a no nonsense man like him is in a rush. He was on his own mission, and they could wait till after that's over to befriend him.

"Oh right, can you hold out your hand, Zoro?" Yang asked. Zoro huffed before turning around, wanting to hurry up.

"Why?" he questioned with suspicion, but complied anyway.

 _Click!_

He widened his eyes at the sound and discovered that Yang handcuffed his hand with hers, keeping the two together. She borrowed them from the cops in order to stick with the muscular swordsman.

"Get these cuffs off of me!" Zoro yelled at Yang.

"Not a chance! I hear you have no sense of direction, so I'm here to guide you. Although... I could guide you somewhere else." Yang wiggled her eyes at the suggestion, causing a few to blush.

While they had thought of it the wrong way, she really meant the bar to share a drink. She is not an easy woman. The girl would want to know him better before making any big moves.

"Finally! Someone that can make my life easier." Perona muttered as she made the ghosts disappear.

"My sense of direction is fine!" Zoro rebuked. He was about to draw his sword to cut the chain connecting the two, but the troublesome blonde grabbed it.

"You're gonna have to chop my hand off if you want to get out of this." Yang boldly stated. The others were frightened by the imagery of Yang having a severed hand, few turning green.

He gritted his teeth in annoyance as they had a staring contest before removing his hand from the scabbard. He'd rather not have to explain to Luffy how one of his family members lost an arm.

"Tch. Just hurry up and get us to Beacon Academy, _Ero-Blonde_." Zoro relented. If she's going to be this stubborn, then there is nothing he could do. But he doesn't like being dragged around like a child.

Yang came to a halt when she heard the nickname. She may be a pervert, but she is nowhere near Sanji's level of perversion. At least that's what she was assuming since Zoro calls Sanji _Ero-Cook_.

"Are you suggesting that I'm like Sanji?" Yang inquired, her eyes covered by her hair. The students and Perona took a few steps back as they felt her anger rising.

"You are like the damn cook. You have that same lecherous grin he has when he's around women." Zoro argued. Yang had enough and glared up at him.

"At least I don't have lecherous thoughts 24/7, _mosshead_!" she countered.

"What did you call me!" he yelled, leaning his body over hers to make her seem small. She was not going to give in that easily.

"You heard me! While we're on the topic, how can you get so lost when you have a head full of moss? Moss usually points to the north, idiot!" Yang informed him with shark teeth.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" he yelled back.

"It means you ARE the north, you stone cold jerk!" Yang finished, feeling exhausted from the argument. With all that said, she felt a little sad for driving a wedge between them. Her anger got the best of her and left a bad first impression for him.

Zoro took the opportunity and cut the chains binding the two.

"Those two know how to bicker like an old married couple." Blake commented, receiving nods.

"It's Zoro and Sanji 2.0." Ruby added her two cents.

The rest of the walk was uneventful, but Yang was still in a sour mood from the argument.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	29. Rooting Out Grimm

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 29**

Luffy, team CFVY, and Timber were standing near a cave entrance that the wolf lead them to. Nothing much happened on the way there, just small Grimm that became more frequent in appearance as they continued.

The timber wolf himself played as a good distraction by using his canine teeth on the weaker Grimms' legs. He may have unlocked his Aura, but he has no knowledge of how to use it due to the lack of proper training.

"Our encounter rate with Grimm has been going up. What are the odds that we're too late and that they already left?" Velvet asked as she peered into the cave with her night vision. It went pretty far in, and that only makes it more foreboding with the darkness that her teammates are seeing.

There was no telling how much time has passed since the den was captured. Either way someone has to gather the guts to enter the cave and investigate.

"I don't think so. I mean, look at Timber. Something very threatening is in there, and it can't be some random Beowolf." Coco countered. Timber was snarling and growling at the entrance to prove her point, indicating that a strong presence was somewhere inside.

They can't just disregard an animal's instinct since it tends to be very accurate.

Yatsu broke away from his thoughts and looked around for their extra team member.

"Where's Luffy?" he asked the three. They looked around in concern, but found no signs of him. Fox decided to pinpoint his location through Observation Haki.

"Oh no..." he said dryly, earning looks of confusion.

" _Oi! Where are you stupid Grimm!? Get out of Timber's home so we can kill you!_ " Luffy's voice echoed from the cave, causing their jaws to drop.

Planning was not a part of his line of thinking, so his impatience lead to him running inside the cave hollering for the Grimm to find him.

"That idiot!" Coco growled out. It was only a matter of time until he...

 _"Ahhh!"_ they heard him scream to the top of his lungs. Velvet flinched at the high volume intruding her rabbit ears.

"Luffy!" they called out, the earlier frustration forgotten in favor of worry. They ran inside the hideout to bail their friend out of whatever trouble he got himself into. They didn't get too far in when they found him.

Luffy was sprinting towards them while laughing his ass off, not even stopping as he passed by them. They were confused by how his frightened scream transformed into laughter.

"Hahaha! That thing scared the hell out of me!" he laughed out as he exited the den. Of course, the Grimm have the element of surpise with their black fur blending into the darkness.

The team turned their attention to where he came from to see glowing red eyes staring into their souls. Coco's expression remained passive at the sight, having grown used to seeing Grimm. On the inside, she was trying to suppress her irritation for his stupid stunt.

Not wanting to stick around with a Grimm in tight spaces, they dashed out of the den and caught up with Luffy. The creature revealed itself as it gave chase to its prey.

What came out was a large cat-like beast with huge saber canines protruding from the upper lip. The thin bone armor could be seen on each of its paws, the face, and some more trailing down its back and wrapping around the body in the form of a ribcage. There was also a small amount of armor on the tip of its tail.

"A Saber Fang!?" Velvet confirmed the species. Luffy was busy staring at it with starry eyes.

"So cool! It reminds me of that tiger I fought with Ace and Sabo." Luffy recalled. There were some small differences in its size and build compared to the one that he and his brothers fought when they were kids.

The Saber Fang had a more lean frame built for speed and it was nowhere near as big.

On foot, the cat-like Grimm was gaining on them. If this keeps up, the thing was going to get in range to pounce on them.

"At least it's out of the cave." Coco's irritation rose at the boy's statement.

"If you told us that you were going to drag it out in the open, we could've set up an ambush to kill it!" Coco yelled as she bopped him on the head while running.

Luffy rubbed his head sheepishly before jumping up to a nearby tree. He sprung off the tree and reeled his fist back to get the Saber to back off.

The others agreed to his unspoken gesture. Up against a creature that can close the distance between them, they would have no choice but to turn back and fight at some point. Even if they're surrounded by trees and foliage, they should be able to handle it.

" **Gomu Gomu no Pistol** "

His fist surged forth, but the Saber proved to have quick reflexes by hopping to the side. The tail whipped around and nailed the airborne rubberman in the abdomen, sending him back to his team. Luffy righted himself before landing with a skid.

"That tiger is fast." Luffy muttered. Knowing that its human prey are going to fight back, the Saber Fang backed up into the foliage and escaped their line of sight. The team stood in a circle with their backs against each other to cover their flanks.

"Seems like it's playing the role of an assassin. Keeping out of sight until an opportunity makes itself known." Fox said. They stood there in silence as they anticipated an attack. Both Velvet and Timber felt their ears twitch at the sound of footfalls.

Timber started growling in one direction, alerting Coco that the beast was most likely there. Her gatling gun started to spin before unloading her ammunition at the area. The Saber Fang darted out of hiding and circled her while avoiding the bullets.

When it disappeared into the bushes, she clicked her teeth in annoyance. It was too fast for her to zero in on. She was about to shoot another hailstorm of bullets to clear all of the obstructions, but Luffy held a hand out in front of her to stop her.

"I don't want you to run out of ammo." Luffy told her with a serious expression. She stared at him for a few seconds, wanting to make an argument. In the end, simple rationality won over as she relented. There was no telling how much she'll use over the course of the mission when there could be more Grimm that can take more bullets.

"Got any ideas then?" Coco questioned, curious as to what Luffy had in mind. He just gave her a stupid grin, indicating that the suggestion was also stupid.

"We'll hit it when it's attacking us." he replied, earning a series of facefaults. They jolted back up when they heard clawing sounds followed by rustling branches, informing them that it's now among the trees.

"So a counterattack? I think you're forgetting how fast it is. And it's too scared to approach us when we're looking in every direction... or using our ears." Yatsu pointed out, looking up at the swaying branches.

"Well we can't stand here forever." Luffy countered. They knew he raised a good point. There had to be more than just one Saber Fang involved, and staying in one place is going to eventually have Grimm flocking towards them. Then their main adversary would have all the cover it needs.

Velvet audibly gulped as a scary idea formed, knowing that her team won't like it.

What they need is someone to act as bait to lure it out for the others like what they could've done back at the den. It was a gamble between the bait's life or the Saber Fang's that spans a few seconds.

With a shaky breath, she walked away from the group which didn't go unnoticed. Timber followed her closely while the others were about to protest against her actions.

" **Second Gear** "

The remainder of the team turned to see Luffy hold his fist on the ground while pumping his legs, entering his steamy state. His serious expression shows that he understood her idea.

'So that's his Second Gear.' they thought after recalling the description given by his cousins. Compared to Third Gear, it didn't look nearly as imposing. The thought just occurred that his enhanced speed should be able to work against the Saber Fang.

"This is going to end in an instant." he muttered, keeping his eyes on Velvet as she ventured to a spot where he could still see her. They nodded their heads in agreement and stood on standby, ready to act on his initiative. It may be fast, but it'll be quick work if they can catch it by surprise and start a combo while keeping up the momentum.

Velvet stopped in what would be a suitable position to be enticing bait. She was far enough away to make the attacker think that her allies wouldn't reach her in time, yet close enough where said allies can see her clearly.

Fear tried to settle into her mind, but it was quelled by the reassurance that her team would have her back. She too has seen Luffy's Second Gear through the spars she spectated in secret. While the action she saw was brief, Velvet had a feeling Luffy would know what to do.

Her rabbit ears stiffened as she heard a distinct roar closing in on her from behind. Velvet whipped her head around to see the black beast in midair, jaws open wide and ready to bury them into her.

Timber served as the alarm with his loud bark reaching the others.

"Now!" Coco signaled in a hush tone. The three heard before Luffy blurred out of sight, briefly shocking them with his speed.

The boy reappeared between Velvet and the feline Grimm with his leg stretched out.

" **Gomu Gomu no Jet Whip** "

His leg blindsided the airborne beast with incredible speed, sending it over to the rest of his team.

The Saber Fang plowed through the dirt towards Coco before she kicked it high in the air. Fox went up next as he spiraled into the air with his arm blades and lacerated the Grimm before using its body as a springboard. The creature recovered as it fell in Yatsu's direction.

The large man steeled himself before thrusted with his curved sword. A sickening squelch was heard along with a dying howl as the Saber Fang flailed around. Its claws scratched his arms several times and its tail was hitting him in the chest in desperation, causing him to grit his teeth as he endured the pain until it finally went limp.

Kicking the dead creature off his sword, Yatsu lets out a sigh as the corpse dissipated.

Once they regrouped, Luffy crossed his arms and pouted at the spot where the corpse was.

"I thought it'd be tougher than that. How boring." Luffy complained, overestimating their opponent. He had high hopes that fighting the Saber Fang was going to be exciting.

"Like Fox said, it was a Grimm centered around assassination. They're only effective when their presence isn't known yet. It also helped that there was so many of us huddled together." Velvet reasoned.

It was pretty much over when Luffy dragged it out of hiding once its attempt on the boy's life failed. While it was indeed fast, it was on its own against a team that gathered their bearings.

"The power of jolly cooperation." Fox added, earning some strange looks.

Luffy suddenly jumped in surprise when he felt a smack on his butt. He turns his head to see Coco smirking.

"Nice going there, Luffy. That Second Gear of yours really helped too. When they told us that you get a speed boost from it, I wasn't expecting near-teleportation." she said, very impressed with the technique's effectiveness.

"So why did you spank me?" Luffy asked in confusion.

"It's her way of showing some camaraderie. That and compliment on someone's performance." Fox explained.

"So she spanks people for doing something good? That's really weird." Luffy commented while tilting his head, earning sweatdrops from the others. He always thought it was a way for a parent to punish their child whenever they did something bad.

"D-don't think too deeply on it." Velvet advised after seeing how perplexed he is.

The short respite and chatter didn't last long as the ground started to shake underneath their feet. Now on high alert, the team searched the area for the thing responsible.

The sounds of toppled trees brought their attention and saw a huge white boulder heading their way. They stood their wide eyed at the thing that's about to steamroll them.

Luffy hastily thought of an idea and threw his arms out and wrapped them around a tree. The others, including Timber, quirked a brow at him until they noticed that they were between his arms.

'Uh oh' they thought in unison.

" **Gomu Gomu no Rocket** "

The rubber boy used his body and collected everyone as he reeled himself towards the tree. They all crashed into the tree he grabbed just in time as the boulder sped by, failing to run them over.

"Uugh... as much as I want to thank you for the save, you could've given us a heads up." Coco groaned within the heap of bodies.

"Hehe, sorry." Luffy apologized before looking to where the boulder went. Rows of trees have fallen in its wake, giving them a clear view of the anomaly.

The boulder hopped in the air before uncurling itself to show the familiar black skin of the Grimm. The creature before them had a hulking body that was designed to curl into a ball of incredibly thick bone armor, with thinner plating on the inside of the supposed shell.

Its backside had half a sphere attached to it, while the arms had large shields that made up for the rest of the sphere to make the boulder it once was. Its legs were very small compared to the rest of its appearance, yet it stands as tall as a building. The head was also small in size and was almost shaped like a orb with a mouth.

As opposed to the sleek and swift Saber Fang, this one looked to be a tank with all the armor found on it. Either way, Luffy was staring in childish amazement of the new species.

"What are you seeing? A steamroller." Fox joked. Even though he's blind and unable to 'see' the silhouette of the Grimm, there was no mistaking the sound of a huge object blazing through the dirt and trees.

"I think it's a Golem. First time we get to kill one, but I can tell that it's going to be a bitch with all that armor." Coco noted with a twitching eye. It did wonders to come prepared by skimming through a book that cataloged the many types of Grimm that humanity faced.

Kind of strange that no one bothered looking for such a book in the first place.

She emphasized her point by unloading some gatling rounds at it, but the Golem placed the shield arms in front to block the bullets. The armor was far more thicker than that of a Deathstalker's, which she would know since the ammunition was able to destroy the scorpion Grimm with ease.

Although, that defensive response must mean that the body inside the armor is not as tough. Which also shows that it had past experiences with firearms and refuses to take chances.

Coco gestures for Yatsu and Luffy to tag team against the Golem. The rest of her team didn't have any feasible way of harming the creature so they would just get in the way.

"This might be a job for your Third Gear, Luffy." Yatsu suggested. His own physical strength may also not be enough to get through the thick armor. If he struck a blow to the main body, then that should prove to be effective.

The Golem wasn't going to make it easy for them, though.

His words fell on deaf ears as the boy rushed ahead of him. Yatsu groaned at his reckless attitude, but soon followed him to offer support. Guess they're going to try without resorting to Third Gear for now.

Taking the drawback into consideration, it wouldn't bode well for them if Third Gear didn't outright kill the Golem.

"We have no choice but to leave it to those two, don't we?" Velvet grimaced from the sidelines, feeling powerless to help. Timber whined beside her, feeling the same as her.

These humans were going out of their way to liberate the den for his pack. His pride won't allow him to flee, not when there are other Grimm in his territory.

"Nothing much we can do except rely on our heavy hitters." Fox confirmed as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

The rabbit faunus gave a reluctant nod. Her ears stiffened when she heard strange clicking sounds, but couldn't distinguish which direction it was coming from yet.

"Looks like we have ourselves some company." Velvet notified. The three scanned the area around to find no movement while the timber wolf stood tall with his ears twitching.

"Coco!" Fox shouted in alarm as Observation Haki picked up an attack. He was about to shove his leader out of the way, but Velvet beat him to it. The moment the girls switched places, a net forced Velvet to the ground. Struggle as she might, the net was stuck to the ground with her trapped under.

"You alright?" Fox asked Velvet.

"Peachy..." was her response. Her voice held some annoyance as she knew what exactly they're up against.

"Great... we have a Widow." Coco recognized the sticky web as a primary feature to the Widow. Recalling where the shot came from, her sprayed some rounds into the branches, forcing the Widow to come out of hiding. Meanwhile, Timber was by Velvet's side as he tried to bite through the web to free her.

The Widow was a cross between a spider and a humanoid. The bottom half consisted of the body of the spider with rings of armor around the abdomen with small spikes. The top half housed the humanoid portion from the waist up, bearing clawed hands and mandibles for a mouth.

The girls felt a shiver go down their spines at the sight of the grotesque creature. Out of all the Grimm they encountered, that had to be the most disgusting one in their opinion.

Wanting to get it over with really quick, Coco trained her sights on the Widow. Before her weapon could rev up completely, the spider Grimm shot a rope of string from its wrist and attached it to the gun. Grabbing hold of its strings, the Widow yanked on them. Coco didn't give an inch as she held strong in a match of tug a war, unable to shoot her gatling.

Since it wasn't getting anywhere like this, the Widow jumped up and reeled itself towards her. Sensing the distress that she's in, Fox runs up and severs the string while the recently freed Velvet leaps up and connected a kick to the Widow's neck.

The oversized spider snarled at her for the interference.

"You know what... screw bullets! You're getting crushed under my foot, you pest!" Coco shouted with shark teeth, growing infuriated by the second. She tears the web that was still on her gun before strutting her way to the Widow. To her surprise, Timber jumped over her and bit down on the nape of the neck on the Widow's humanoid half.

The spider hissed as it thrashed around to shake off the wolf. Timber lost his grip and flew back to Coco's side before gagging at the taste of the Grimm.

"Aren't you gutsy. No wonder why you're the pack leader." she cooed as she patted his head, earning a yip in response. They both turned to see the Widow shooting web nets at the duo, making them backpedal to avoid them.

Two small explosions made contact with the Widow, causing it to shriek. Velvet kept her aim on the Grimm with a hard light version of Black Kabuto. Hearing the sounds of its legs, Fox capitalized on its stunned state and ran past it while severing half of its legs on one side.

Realizing its life threatening predicament, The Widow tethered two strings to a pair of branches and pulled itself out of reach before Coco could smash it with her handbag.

Velvet took a few more shots with the slingshot, but the tree branches were blocking their course. They soon heard four squelching sounds beyond the veil of tree leaves, signaling them of the spider's unique ability.

Regeneration... specifically its lost limbs. However, it needs to put in some heavy concentration to initiate the regeneration.

Coco clicked her teeth in annoyance at the thought of dealing with a fresh new Widow. A pair of white whips lashed out from hiding, surprising the group.

Fox was able to avoid the attacks with ease, but the others weren't as fortunate. Each whip clung to the girls, one on Coco's ankle and the other on Velvet's arm. The two were yanked off the ground and were helpless as to what was about to happen.

The whip holding the fashionista flailed about, slamming her against the trees before crashing into the ground. The air was squeezed out of her lungs as she made a rough impact to the dirt.

Velvet suffered a similar punishment, but she managed to conjure a hard light copy of Gambol Shroud and sever the string holding her.

"You okay, Coco?" she called out in concern after cutting her leader loose.

"Y-yeah." was her response as she recovered from her dazed state and stood back up. She looked around for their blind teammate, but soon found her answer from the rustling branches.

The Widow emerged from the trees and crashed onto the ground with its arms severed, most likely Fox's handiwork. It tried to stand up, but Coco planted her foot on the back of its head and forced it back down to eat dirt.

A rope of string shot out of the abdomen in an attempt for a slippery escape, but Velvet chipped off the end where the string came from.

"We're not letting you get away again!" she claimed. Coco gave her a nod while her thoughts were on how to dispose of it. Fox dropped in and landed in a crouch and felt the ground shake under them.

The Golem was still around...

"Hey Timber. Wanna do the honors?" Coco called out to the wolf, gesturing to the vulnerable spider Grimm. As much as she wants to crush its skull herself, she would let him deal the finishing blow for the sake of his territory.

Timber understood what she meant and ran beside the creature and clamped his entire mouth around the slender neck. The Widow squirmed in futility as the timber wolf chewed through its jugular, ending its life.

To celebrate his kill, Timber howled into the air to signal his brethren of a victory.

"Guess he couldn't help but gloat to his friends." Fox snorted, earning nods of agreement.

The ground shook again as a reminder of Luffy and Yatsu's ongoing struggle. They don't know if they could be of any help against something so heavily armored, but they may as well try to find the two and what they can do.

Coco nodded to Fox in silent communication for him to use Observation Haki to get their location before he started leading them.

"So guys... who wants to bet that the Golem is the big boss here?" Coco asked. The two grimaced at the thought, realizing where she was getting at.

"No one, because we all think there's something more nasty." Fox countered. Imposing as it is, he had a feeling that it wasn't the one leading the vanguard of Grimm.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **With Christmas around the corner, this story won't get updated anytime soon. Just one more unidentified OC Grimm and the Golem left, and Luffy's side should be finished.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	30. A New Bond

**While it may be late, let me just say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 30**

In another area within Forever Fall, Luffy and Yatsu were hard pressed to avoid the colossal arms of the Golem. The motions were slow, but the range it covers leaves them unable to capitalize on it.

The two leapt to the side to dodge a hand that was on its way to crush them. The ground cratered underneath the appendage and kicked up some dust. Yatsu took his chance and dashed to the Golem's main body.

The Golem raised its arm in front of it to intercept his sword. Yatsu gritted his teeth as he couldn't find any signs of damage. In retaliation, the Golem swung its arm to send him flying.

Luffy placed himself between Yatsu and the small cliff face that he would've crashed into.

" **Fusen** "

Inflating his body, the boy caught him before he could taste the unforgiving rock. After a quick thank you, Yatsu grimaced at their progress.

"You sure we can do this without Third Gear? Because don't see any other way." Yatsu pointed out.

Their normal strength wasn't enough for them to break through, and the Grimm was quick to defensive measures.

"We'll be in trouble if my Third Gear doesn't kill it, so we have to save it for last. We need to be faster than its arms." Luffy said, making some sense to his partner. His body stiffened when he saw a pair of arms trying to crush them again.

Knowing that it was too late to move for Yatsu, Luffy grabbed his arm and threw him out of harm's way.

The swordsman could only stare in shock before rolling across the ground. A tremor signaled that Luffy has most likely been flattened.

"Luffy!" he shot up from the ground to see a huge crater with Luffy in the center. The fifteen year old climbed out and dusted himself off, as if he didn't get crushed by a building.

"Don't worry, I'm made of rubber!" he reminded him before laughing it off.

'Right... we keep forgetting that.' Yatsu sweatdropped. They weren't used to the idea of an altered body composition such as that and it's difficult to put it to memory so soon.

Luffy threw his arm out and slung himself past Yatsu before the Golem could crush him again. The bigger man saw through his intentions and held his sword out for him to grab a hold of on his way back.

The rubberman slowed to a stop while holding onto the blade, entering Second Gear as he did so.

" **Gomu Gomu no Jet Rocket** "

In an instant, Luffy body slammed into the Golem before it could raise up a defense. The impact forced it to stagger, leaving the huge Grimm vulnerable to any further punishment.

" **Gomu Gomu no...** " he started off as he imbues Armament into both arms while still in his steamy state.

" **Hawk Gatling!** "

Yatsu could only describe the attack as a rough imitation of Coco's gatling gun, but with fists instead of bullets. He couldn't even see his arms as they turned into blurs that are connecting to the main body of the Golem. A pained roar was heard along with several small breaks in its armor as it stumbled back from the countless hits it suffered.

Each small hole connected to each other with thin cracks. Eventually, a large portion of the armor shattered, leaving a splotch of black.

After gawking at the firepower, Yatsu surged forth with his sword ready before cutting into the exposed area. He then spun on his heel and gave another deep gash wound to the Golem.

Another roar bellowed with enough air pressure to blow the pair away. It lowered itself into a crouch with its hands dug into the ground in front of it.

"Huh? Is it going to start rolling again?" Luffy wondered while returning to his normal state. Yatsu didn't like the sound of that after witnessing the speed it went.

That and the outside armor would be nearly impenetrable.

"So now what?" Yatsu asked. He was drawing blanks using sound logic, which leaves him with whatever nonsense Luffy could come up with on the fly.

Luffy pondered a little bit before the Golem threw itself towards them while curling into a boulder. He wrapped an arm around the larger man and jumped high in the air before landing on top of the rolling Grimm.

"Hahaha! It can't get us if we're on it." he laughed out as he ran at a steady pace to maintain his balance. Luffy was easily carrying Yatsu over himself while performing the circus act, earning a sweatdrop from the swordsman for the comical display.

The Golem hopped up to rid itself of its passengers. The boy's feet left the ball on its descent, but he managed to stick the landing and continue. The situation stayed the same over the next few minutes. Luffy wasn't tiring out and the Golem continued its devastating campaign on the trees of Forever Fall. Some unfortunate Grimm ended up getting steamrolled by the Golem.

The two humans caught sight of something ahead of them. The Golem was headed for a canyon to take the two down, hoping the high fall would kill them.

A problem for Yatsu, but not so much for Luffy and his rubber body.

"That's it!" an idea dawned on Luffy as they approached the canyon. Yatsu raised a brow at the possible strategy.

His thoughts were put on hold when Luffy threw him towards a tree, forcing him to raise his arms as he went through the branches and landed in a combat roll.

Now that Yatsu was out of harm's way, Luffy took out a soap pellet before dismounting the Golem with a high jump.

The Golem must've known that its plan was shot down because it tried to steer itself away from the canyon and avoid falling. Luffy shot the pellet in its path and it soon created a long carpet of soapy water leading towards the cliff.

The dirt turned to slick mud as the Golem rolled over it, causing it to lose all traction from the mud and have no chance of escaping. The boulder flew off the edge of the cliff and uncurled itself to try and grab on the ledge to save itself, but was too far away.

Luffy landed on the unaffected ground before he chuckled at its plan backfiring, with Yatsu meeting up with him.

"Shishishi... what an idiot! Yatsu, I want you to throw me down as hard as you can." Luffy ordered as the Golem started flailing its arms as it plummeted to the bottom.

Yatsu raised a brow at the order, but was willing to trust in his judgement. He grabbed Luffy by the hips and lifted him over his head while peering down to where the Grimm fell.

With great strength, he threw the boy into the canyon with breakneck speeds. Luffy kept his eyes peeled until he spotted the Golem, taking note that he was slowly catching up to it with. The bottom of the canyon also came into view.

" **Third Gear: Busoshoku** "

He bit into both of his thumbs and inflated them to their colossal proportions, the skin shifting to metallic black. Luffy held his arms behind himself in anticipation for the rough crash. The brief stun the Golem will suffer from the crash should be enough for him to deliver the finishing blow.

" **Gomu Gomu no...** "

The Golem's dome-like backside made contact with the ground, causing a tremor that shook Yatsu off balance. The dome was now buried into the ground, making the Golem struggle like a turtle flipped upside down.

Luffy couldn't help but grin at the helpless creature.

" **Grizzly Magnum** "

His two wrecking ball arms surged forth and slammed into the main body. The large creature had no time to raise its arms in defense after being dazed from the fall.

The dying cry of the Golem was heard by the rest of the team as Luffy dug its grave deeper.

When the Golem started dissolving, his drawback took effect as air spewed out of his mouth. Luckily, it served as a propulsion to get him back to his teammate. By the time he passed Yatsu, everyone saw his shrinking body fly towards a clearing a little ways away from the canyon.

"Guess he can't control his flight path." Coco surmised.

"Lets check his landing zone. We don't want him to end up in deep water." Fox said, earning nods at the observation.

Yatsu was the first to arrive in the clearing, scanning the skies for Chibi Luffy. The rest of his team later entered the clearing just in time to see the tiny boy land on Yatsu's shoulders.

"Yay! We win!" Luffy cheered with a goofy grin, getting a smile from the big man. The sight of the two made Coco and Velvet go slack jawed at the adorable picture.

They can see it now, a muscular older brother giving a ride for his baby brother. It could even work in the case of father and son, oddly enough.

Unable to handle the brief moment, Velvet brought out her camera and snapped a photo of the two. The flash brought the pairs' attention to them, giving confused looks at their behavior.

"It's too cute..." Coco's mind blanked. Fox rolled his eyes at the sight of her soft feminine side while Timber stared at her strangely.

"This could give Ruby a run for her money." Velvet muttered in awe. She'd be hard pressed to find anything else that can rival the young leader's natural cuteness.

Luffy hopped off his ride and stared at them with his head cocked to the side.

"What's with you two?" he asked in curiosity. Velvet took another shot suddenly, confusing him more.

'And that one's for Blake.' Velvet thought. Since the amber eyed girl likes Chibi Luffy's appearance, she may as well get a photo. It's only a matter of time until he rids himself of the drawback, which would mean no more Chibi.

"I take it this means that the Golem is dead?" Fox guessed, earning a nod of confirmation from Yatsu.

Luffy grew back to normal as the four made their way towards him. Both Observation users picked up a lethal attack, causing their blood to run cold.

"All of you, stop!" Luffy roared at them in panic. Fox complied immediately, not needing to be told twice. The others flinched at his yelling, but soon followed suit. They wondered what got the carefree boy to look so desperate.

They got their answer as a flying slash raced between the two groups, missing Coco's by a few feet. It crossed the entire clearing and sliced some of the trees down.

If they didn't stop, that slash would've torn them apart as they weren't on guard with Aura.

"T-that was too close." Velvet said in a frightened voice. They lowered their guard much too soon, feeling relieved that all immediate threats were taken care of. They should've known better, what with the death cry of the Golem.

"What was that, though?" Coco asked with a cold sweat. Timber was backing away from where the attack came from, snarling at the hidden threat.

What came to greet them was a bipedal Grimm with the head and legs of a bull and a masculine body, reaching a height slightly taller than the B.K. In its hand was a bone white cleaver with a jagged edge.

Armor was discovered on its wrists, chest, and thighs while the horns and hooves shared the same color. Although the bracers do have markings running through it, similar to the B.K.

'A Minotaur.' CFVY thought in unison.

They turned to Luffy and saw that he bore a serious expression with a trace of surprise.

"What's wrong?" Yatsu asked in concern. He was half expecting Luffy to stare at it in childish wonder like the other new species.

"I never ran into a Grimm that can launch flying slashes before." Luffy answered. If the thing could something like that, it must have some knowledge with a weapon along with the required strength. It was also surprising that a Grimm would wield a weapon in the first place.

When they thought about it for a second, he had the right to feel threatened. This was also their first encounter with a Grimm of that caliber. This wasn't just a Grimm that relied on strength or cunning, but one that developed legitimate skills.

The Minotaur didn't waste any time as it rushed the group with impressive speed. Yatsu intercepted one of its wide swings and held his ground, but the Grimm overpowered him and sent him flying.

'Such strength!' Yatsu thought, feeling intimidated by the power it had. He dug his sword into the ground to stop himself from crashing into anything while Luffy charged at the bull.

" **Gomu Gomu no Gatling** "

It concentrated on the boy and held its sword up to block the many punches he threw. It retaliated with a swing, but Luffy vanished from sight after doing so.

"Whew... that was close." Luffy said casually as he stood on the flat of its sword. The Minotaur growled in anger as Luffy ran across the weapon.

What he didn't expect was for the Minotaur to drop its weapon when he got to the hilt. The bull Grimm cocked its fist back and punched him away, sending him bouncing across the ground.

Coco tried to pelt it with minigun rounds, but the Minotaur proved to be too quick as it circled around her. Growing annoyed with her weapon, it picked up its sword as it ran by it before launching two flying slashes, forcing her to dive to the side.

A few explosions met the back of its head, eliciting a grunt from the beast. Velvet kept on firing shells from the hardlight version of Ember Celica, attracting its attention.

It closed in on her and did a low sweep with its sword, but she hopped over it and rushed inside its guard. She got several punches in before retreating back. The Minotaur wasn't having it as it managed to catch her with its empty hand.

Velvet squirmed in its grip until she felt the hand tighten, yelling in pain as she was being squeezed. Timber jumped to the rescue by climbing onto the Minotaur's shoulder and clawed one of its eyes. Velvet was released in favor of swatting the wolf away and covering its damaged eye.

"You okay?" Yatsu asked once he caught her, earning a slight nod from his teammate. Meanwhile, Fox entered the fray and hacked away at the unarmored legs and brought it to its knees.

"Luffy!" he signaled.

"Yeah!" Luffy kicked into Second Gear and ran to the Grimm. Seeing the boy with its remaining eye, the Minotaur sent many flying slashes to keep him at bay. It proved to be futile as he used Sky Walk to move through the air at high speeds, smoothly evading the projectiles. He stretched his fist back when he got close, imbuing it with Armament as he did.

" **Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk** "

Much to the shock of his most recent friends, his fist ignited on its own and snapped back. The burning punch sent to the Minotaur's face sent it flying back a bit before crashing into the ground.

They were left amazed at the attack as they noticed he didn't use Dust to perform it. But one look at Luffy panting slightly told them that it took a chunk of stamina from him.

A loud roar bellowed, telling them that the Minotaur is not dead yet. It slowly stood back up glaring murder at them.

"Stupid bull is really annoying." Luffy complained. Coco had a thoughtful look on her features, considering how to proceed.

"Velvet, Luffy, surround it. We're going to give it some bullet hell. The rest of you know what to do." she gave out her orders. Fox and Yatsu nodded in acknowledgement and charged at the Minotaur with Timber in tow.

"Huh? Velvet has a gun?" Luffy raised a brow. The rabbit faunus sweatdropped at how slow he was before she conjured a hardlight copy of Coco's minigun.

"Oh..." Luffy figured out, emphasized by his fist hitting his palm. Since she's on Coco's team, she could get all the miniguns she wants.

While the three were moving into position, the Minotaur dropped its blade down on Fox. He jumped to the side and started slashing at its sword arm, earning a grunt from the beast. Instead of using its weapon, it opted for smashing the ground with its empty hand. Fox foresaw this and jumped out of the way, much to the bull's ire.

Being stuck in the air, Fox couldn't do anything against the swift headbutt to his body. He yelled in pain as his body rolled across the ground. When he tried to get up, the Minotaur was already upon him with its sword swinging down.

Yatsu stepped in and held his sword up to stop it. Both blades clashed, creating a crater under the swordsman who was forced down to one knee. It was an intense struggle just to keep it from overwhelming him, and he can't keep it up for too long.

Thinking of a quick idea, Fox slammed both fists against the blade with superb Aura manipulation. The force was strong enough to knock the bull's sword out of its grip, leaving it weaponless.

Knowing that their job was done, the two retreated while Timber lets out a bark.

This played as an all clear signal for the second group who stood in a triangular formation around the Grimm.

"Yosh! Lets see if you can block all of this!" Luffy challenged as he slammed his fists together and shifted them to a familiar black tone. He pumped both arms while Coco and Velvet rev up their respective miniguns.

The Minotaur spun about to see all sides were covered, growling at the predicament.

" **Gomu Gomu no Hawk Gatling** "

All it could see was a hailstorm of bullets. If it jumped, the rubber human would interfere somehow seeing as he's the one with the quick reaction. The markings on its bracers glowed brown before the Minotaur slammed both fists into the ground.

Everyone was astonished when the earth rose up on its own, curving in until it formed a thick dome to protect it. The attacks were stopped by the sturdy shell, keeping the Minotaur safe.

"Well that's new... a Grimm that's able to use geokinesis." Coco stood impressed.

"You think it has something to do with the altered evolutions professor Port rambled on about?" Velvet wondered. They stopped firing after seeing that their efforts were useless, but Luffy kept on going.

They would've been wasting more ammo otherwise, something that Luffy doesn't have to worry about.

"It doesn't matter what it could do. I'm still going to kick its ass!" Luffy declared. He roared as a portion of the dome crumbled, revealing the Minotaur.

The two stared at each other in a little effort to intimidate each other. Plucking its sword from the ground, the Minotaur huffed out of it nose in what looked like annoyance.

Likewise, Luffy was also annoyed with its sword.

"I'm going to destroy that thing." Luffy declared in a low tone, gesturing to the sword it carries.

" **Memory Bond: Chef** "

After initiating Sanji's bond, Luffy started to spin on one foot really fast. His companions were confused as to what he was doing until he stopped.

"Wha-!" Coco was dumbfounded by the illogical event. The foot he spun on had a white hot look, sizzling with extreme heat.

" **Diable Jambe** ( _Devil's Leg_ )" he called out while raising his heated leg into a fighting stance.

They would've forgotten that he was still in Second Gear if he hadn't blurred out of sight and popped up in front of the Minotaur. It didn't falter as it threw a punch at him, with Luffy countering with an amplified kick.

Both attacks met, but the Minotaur was forced to pull back from the burning kick that was leaving a mark on its knuckle.

" **Venaison Shoot** ( _Venison Shoot_ )"

Spinning horizontally in the air, Luffy starts firing a series of kicks aimed at the body. The Minotaur held its sword up to block all of the hits, but its sword was accumulating too much heat near the base of the blade. The boy finishes his attack with an axe kick, which the Minotaur blocked as well.

The base of the blade cracked a bit, cluing Yatsu on Luffy's strategy.

"He's crushing the durability through heat, making it easily brittle." he muttered. While it looked like a sword made of bone, it may as well be metal. Luffy is striking the iron while its hot.

"I think we should leave this to him. We'd just be in the way for now." Velvet said with reluctance. If they tried anything, the Minotaur might overreact and ruin whatever plan Luffy had. Besides, Luffy is the only one amongst them that has actually ever given solid damage. Right now, things are in Luffy's favor.

Luffy disengaged from both Second Gear and Diable Jambe before throwing both arms back with a spin. He kept his sights on the cracked area as he imbued Armament into his fists.

" **Gomu Gomu no Sniper** "

With the Bazooka and Rifle combined, both fists spiraled forth and made impact on the cracked blade. Its precious weapon snapped in two, officially making the Minotaur weaponless.

"Alright!" Luffy cheered at his accomplishment. His eyes widened as his Haki picked up something, causing him to pivot his body out of the way. The Minotaur swung its head around, trying to use its horns to skewer the boy. One of the horns managed to graze his side, making Luffy shout in pain as he fell to the ground. Luckily, he was cautious enough to put up a shield with his Aura.

"Luffy!" they called out in worry. Timber, unable to stand around any longer, ran over to Luffy's aid.

"No Timber! Get away, it's too dangerous here!" Luffy shouted his warning to the wolf.

The Minotaur snarled at the intrusion before slamming its hand on the ground. The brown glow came back, but it was not as bright as before. Coco quirked a brow at this but soon looked in dread as the Minotaur forged another sword from the earth.

"Shit." she cursed under her breath before unloading more rounds to distract the Grimm. The bull leapt high in the air to avoid the bullets then plunged down to emit a powerful shockwave. Luffy and Timber were blown away from the force while the rest held their ground.

The shattered earth flew in all directions, showering the team with debris. Yatsu pushed Coco and Fox to the ground and used his body to provide cover, while Velvet conjured a copy of Jaune's shield to use as an umbrella.

"There's a limit on how much geokinesis it could use! The range of influence is pretty short, too." Coco notified her team, hoping that Luffy heard her. Thinking about it now, it probably wouldn't matter as Luffy would try to bulldoze through it.

Seeing as it wasn't going to be bothered anytime soon, the Minotaur turned its gaze to the wolf who's getting back up.

Luffy could only stare in horror as it launched a flying slash and hit Timber directly, hearing a pained yelp. Team CFVY shared his despair as they watched it all happen before their eyes. They were growing really fond of the wolf, willing to admit that he felt like another team member to them.

He was a badass wolf with an Aura, which that in itself was impressive. They could only imagine the potential he had if he was properly trained.

"T-Timber..." Velvet walked up to him with her team in tow and tried to soothe his pain, only to find his whimpering heartbreaking.

"He should be fine with his Aura. But after a hit like that, he's not going to moving for the time being." Fox tried to reassure. Timber's Aura was dim in his perspective, showing that it was very low.

Yatsu narrowed his eyes at the Minotaur, yet it made no motion to seize the opportunity. Instead, it turned its attention to a greater source of negative emotion... Luffy.

The boy's hair covered his eyes, but he could see him gritting his teeth in rage.

"I won't let you hurt my _nakama_ anymore." Luffy said in a low angry tone. Deep inside himself, he found another source of Aura. It wasn't his, nor was it any of his crew members. When he sensed its color, all he could see was... gold.

It reminded him of Yang for some reason, but if that's there then he could bond with it just like his crew. When he did, a new emblem flared to life on his left hand as opposed to his right. The emblem was a bright gold and was the picture of a burning heart.

* * *

On the airship heading back to Beacon, everyone remained silent in their own thoughts as they waited.

Yang was still feeling down with the first impression she made to Zoro. She's sure he'd gotten over it, but it did nothing to ease the guilt.

An odd sensation came over her, causing her to perk up at the feeling. Curious, she subconsciously found herself staring in the direction where Forever Fall would be, where Luffy is.

Yang couldn't explain it, but she felt like she's helping Luffy somehow. The thought alone brought a small smile to her face.

"Yang?" the girl broke out of her thoughts at the sound of Blake's voice. Looking to her partner, all she got was a questioning look. As if something was out of place.

"One moment, you were moping. Then you suddenly got that smile on your face. What happened?" Blake wondered. Yang blinked owlishly at her, wondering that herself.

"I got no clue." Yang shrugged, earning a sweatdrop from the raven haired girl.

* * *

The ground cracked underneath Luffy as he stared at the Minotaur with determination. His team gaped at his eyes, noticing a slight change.

The irises became a deep shade of red.

'Doesn't that happen when Yang activates her semblance?' Velvet wondered in shock, recalling some of the spars the blonde had.

"I feel like I can do a lot more now." Luffy knelt to the ground and entered Second Gear. The Minotaur grunted in surprise when he appeared in front of its face in a flash, before being blown back into some trees by Luffy's blackened fist.

Team CFVY did a double take between where the Grimm was and where it landed, from one side of the clearing to the other.

Not only has Luffy gotten a little faster, but his strength is further amplified by what Velvet would assume to be Yang's semblance. How he's able to use it still baffled them, leaving it a complete mystery.

Still... it is very scary when considering Luffy's great strength is being promoted to 'absurd'.

Not wasting a moment, Luffy sped off to confront the Minotaur.

" **Gomu Gomu no Hawk Stamp** "

The Minotaur stood back up and tried to block the attack with its sword, but the weapon broke upon meeting his foot. Since it was made of earth instead of metal-like bone, it was far more fragile. And Luffy's increased strength just made it more useless.

Slamming its fist into the ground, the Minotaur brought up a pillar beneath Luffy. This time, the glow faded away as an indication that it can't perform anymore geokinesis.

The sudden rise forced him up in the air, but Luffy stretched his arm out and wrapped it around the Grimm's neck.

" **Gomu Gomu no Hawk Pistol** "

Luffy reeled himself in and smashed his fist into its face, forcing it down to the ground with a harsh crash.

Team CFVY winced when they heard the crash as well as spot the pillar of dust. They could tell Luffy was hell bent on crushing its skull with the amount of power behind his attacks.

"Yang would be proud." Coco commented.

"While everyone else would be frightened of his brutality." Fox added, earning nods from the rest.

Back in the forestry, the Minotaur was slowly getting back up. It was helpless against the onslaught delivered by the powerful kid.

" **Hawk Whip** "

A stretched out leg tripped it, leaving it to fall to the ground.

" **Hawk Volcano** "

A strong kick connected to its lower back and sent it skyward.

"Yosh! Now lets see if this works." Luffy said as he tried to form a memory bond.

From what he could understand, the emblem on his left hand is designated for those of Remnant while his right hand shows what crew member he's bonded to. Therefore, it should be possible to have two bonds: one for his crew and another for the Remnant-born.

Sanji's emblem lit up, much to Luffy's joy. Before he could do anything, he felt a sudden wave of fatigue crash into him. Of course, maintaining two bonds will be very taxing compared to one.

Shrugging off the exhaustion, Luffy started to spin on his foot to enter Diable Jambe mode. Afterwards, he used Sky Walk to meet up with the vulnerable Minotaur. He made sure to deactivate Second Gear as the two bonds were tiring as it is.

" **Extra Hachis** ( _Highest-Rate Mincemeat_ )"

Launching himself with Sky Walk, Luffy throws in a fierce barrage of kicks. After what looked like a fiery blast, Minotaur howled in pain as it was sent flying over a familiar canyon. The heat that its armor absorbed was starting to burn the bull directly, making the pain agonizing.

Luffy caught up to it in a short amount of time, preparing to deliver the killing blow.

" **Flambage Shot!** "

The bright light of his leg slammed onto the side of the Minotaurs head. Luffy roared as he exerted more strength into the attack with the help of Yang's semblance.

The bull Grimm took a sharp spiraling drop to the bottom of the canyon, where it smashed head first into the ground and broke its neck.

The slight tremor signaled the team on who the winner is.

"Welp... Luffy demolished that thing's ass." Coco pointed out the obvious. Velvet gulped at the frightening display of power.

"That's going to be hellish for a person to confront. I'm pretty sure he could knock Yatsu flying with that." she added, with Yatsu nodding in agreement.

"The problem still stands that Luffy is tapped out of Aura." Fox warned them. Feeling more alert about the circumstances, they made their way to Luffy's location with Timber limping behind them.

When they reached the canyon, Luffy landed near the edge and fell to his hands and knees panting in exhaustion.

"Luffy! Are you okay?" Velvet ran to his side in worry. She saw no physical injuries on him, but he looks like he's about to collapse.

"Y-yeah, just really tired...*growl*... and hungry." Luffy reassured, but soon whined about his empty stomach. A bark brought his attention to Timber, who was still limping a little.

"Timber! You got your home back now!" Luffy cheered, feeling relieved about the wolf's wellbeing.

"Wish we could bring him back to Beacon. He could be like a mascot." Coco suggested, but was shot down when she heard Timber whine. Luffy nodded his head at Timber, as if he understood what he was saying.

"He doesn't want to leave. His friends still need someone to lead them. This is still his home." Luffy said. They couldn't tell if he just translated what Timber said or what, but they accepted his reason.

Recovering a bit of strength, Luffy got back on his feet and left for the clearing with his friends to call in a bullhead. The wolf went his separate way, returning back to his den.

With something as strong as the Minotaur, their mission should be completed. While there might be more Grimm, the number of strong Grimm has been reduced considerably.

Once the bullhead arrived, the team was about to climb aboard when they heard numerous howls being sounded in unison. They smiled at what they would assume would be the pack of wolves offering gratitude.

"Guess that's their way of saying 'thanks'." Fox surmised. Luffy lets out a hearty chuckle at their thanks.

They finally got inside the bullhead and left Forever Fall, with the pack of wolves lead by Timber staring at the aircraft as it went.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Oooh... There's something more to Luffy's semblance. Don't worry, it'll be explained in detail later.**

 **Next is the chapter that a lot of people have been waiting for!**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	31. Reunion: Part 1

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 31**

Ruby's group arrived at the courtyard in front of Beacon. The young leader received a quick call from Luffy telling her that he's on his way back. While she may be ecstatic to hear that, she can't help but wonder how they finished so quickly.

Searching through the city was easy enough given that you have a good informant, but going through a large forest is a case of trial and error.

So they decided to wait for the boy's return so they can report everything back to Ozpin in one go. It would also do well to introduce Zoro and Perona to the headmaster.

Jaune was in his own thoughts of what went down against the Buggy Pirates. He should feel happy that he threw his first flying slash, yet he doesn't think it was through strength alone.

"Zoro?" the green haired man perked up in attention.

"How strong were you when you started using flying slashes?" the blonde inquired. Everyone quirked a brow in confusion, wondering where this came from.

"Hmm... I'd say I was strong enough to cut through steel. Why do you ask?" Zoro answered after a bit of thought. Granted, the first time he performed such a feat was against Mr. 1 and his steel body.

Jaune slumped at the reply, wanting some reassurance that part of his success involved power. It doesn't seem to be the case as he still can't cut down some of the weaker materials.

"Would this have anything to do with the flying slash you made?" Pyrrha guessed, earning a nod from her leader. Hearing this, Ren racked through his brain to think of another explanation.

"You might have done it with Aura, though." Ren surmised, gaining their attention. Pieces started to fall into place for most after pondering on the possibility.

"He does have a point. If our weapons are conduits to our Aura, then you could swing your sword to project a slash using the energy." Blake concluded.

The blonde swordsman still didn't know what to make of it. He still learned a new trick, but maybe he was just hoping to do it the way he intended.

"It doesn't matter how you did it. It's still a flying slash, a new technique in your case. And with that comes mastery." Zoro bestowed some wisdom. Jaune's eyes widened at the revelation.

So what if he did it with Aura, it is still a technique worth improving. He just needs some additional training.

The group fell into silence shortly after Jaune's spirit was brought up. Zoro soon noticed Ruby was staring intently at his sword.

"This isn't something to be gawking at." Zoro's voice startled Ruby, but remained undeterred.

"Can I hold it? Or see the blade? Maybe have a look at your other swords?" Ruby shot many requests in childish glee, though Zoro could only give a deadpanned expression.

"I doubt he would just let anyone handle his swords. Besides, he can't lose his grip on his summoned swords otherwise they would detach and disappear from his Aura reserves." Perona lectured. Ruby pouted at the ghost girl, but soon processed what she said.

"Wait, they have to be in contact with you or else they would go 'poof'?" Ruby wondered, getting a nod in response.

It was the one weakness behind his semblance, something he took with caution. The summoned swords are technically solid chunks of his Aura, and losing his grip on his swords would cost him greatly.

When Ruby thought about it, his semblance really emphasized with his pride as a swordsman. From what she gathered from Luffy, Zoro takes great care of his swords. To lose even a single sword would be the same as cutting a part of himself from his very being.

Heck, she would be mad at herself if she lost Crescent Rose. She took a lot of pride in making her sweetheart, after all.

Her thoughts were brought to a halt when Zoro started looking up at a bullhead beginning to land.

"He sure took his time." Zoro muttered with a smirk. Hearing that told everyone that Luffy was on the bullhead with team CFVY.

They couldn't wait to see his face once he sets his eyes on Zoro.

Once the vehicle landed and opened up, Luffy hopped out with a closed eye grin and arms raised. Blake felt herself smiling at his cheerful demeanor, feeling relieved that no serious harm has come to him.

"I'm back!" Luffy announced with joy. He turned to the multiple presences nearby, only to go wide eyed when he made eye contact with his first mate.

There was a pregnant pause between them until Luffy beamed at him.

"Zoro!" Luffy shouted to the top of his lungs. Team CFVY soon joined him, wondering why he was yelling.

"He can sure be loud." Nora commented in slight awe of his lung capacity. She was sure that Beacon heard him loud and clear.

"That just shows how much he missed him." Ruby said.

Yang breathed out of her nose after thinking of his next response.

"What's up with you?" Perona wondered when she saw the blonde look on with half-lidded eyes.

Surely enough, Luffy stretched his arms out and pulled himself back when he gripped the ground.

'Oh no.' everyone thought in unison, dreading the inevitable. Zoro's grin dropped as he also caught on. Jaune remained in his own thoughts without taking heed of Luffy.

He was too busy muttering about how his schedule should be organized with the addition of of his Aura slashes, as he would call them from now on.

" **Gomu Gomu no Bear Hug Scythe** "

Luffy launched himself towards Zoro, stretching his arms and legs to the side as he flew.

Ruby, Yang, and Nora stood in attention and welcomed him with open arms. They didn't have the heart to turn down his hug, no matter how painful it might be.

The rest were rooted in place in fear of the impact, with Perona floating high up to avoid it. Jaune looked up to see the smiling Luffy heading towards them.

"Ahhh!" Jaune screamed before dropping to the ground, covering himself from what looked like the Grim Reaper trying to behead him.

His maneuver was a second before Luffy caught everyone else in his limbs and sent them flying with him, missing the boy.

"What kind of reaction was that!" Perona comically shouted at the panic response. Luffy's group kept flying until crashing through a fountain, destroying the statue in the center. The spectators winced at the impact, knowing that Glynda is going to punish Luffy for his actions as she repairs the damage.

A group of bodies laid on the ground with swirls for eyes, with Luffy on top of a downed Zoro.

"That... really... hurt." Nora wheezed with Ren groaning in agreement.

"We like to be rough with our love." Yang commented in her dizzy state.

"You and your damn sex jokes, Yang." Blake hissed, earning a snicker from the blonde.

"I can't tell what's going to kill us first: Luffy or the Grimm." Pyrrha said.

"The worst part is that Jaune is the only one that dodged while we suffered." Weiss complained.

"Hahaha! Long time no see, Zoro." Luffy said cheerfully, unaware of the anger building up.

"One of these days... I'm going to kill you." Zoro threatened, to which Luffy laughed off. The swordsman always said that when he did this sort of thing, but never really took it seriously.

Luffy hopped off of Zoro to let him up, only for the man to hit him on the noggin.

"Nice to see you still have that habit, you idiot!" Zoro shouted with shark teeth before switching to a grin. Even though Luffy's antics get on his nerves, he's still very glad to see his captain.

Luffy had his carefree grin and apologized before catching sight of Perona.

"...Who are you? I remember you from somewhere, but I don't know where." Luffy mused with a tilt of his head. Perona grew a tickmark and sent a Negative Hollow through him. She would've figured that she made a memorable impression after helping him with the World Pirate incident and leading Zoro to the Archipelago.

"I wanna be reborn as a blade of grass." Luffy entered his depressed state, shocking team CFVY. Depression and negative thoughts was something never thought possible from Luffy. RWBY and JNPR already had the rundown of her devil fruit's power, so they weren't so surprised.

It didn't matter how strong willed you were, Negative Hollows still affected them just as well as anyone else. But it won't work if the target is as pessimistic as Usopp.

When Luffy snapped out of the trance, he glared at the culprit.

"I remember you now! You use those stupid ghosts." Luffy recalled. His anger abated when he felt something placed on his head. Looking up to see his straw hat, he spun around to see Yang smiling at him.

"We found them on our way to Buggy's." Yang informed as Ruby sprung up to her feet.

" _They_ found us and figured out we're connected to you." she corrected. "We also ran into Bellamy, even though we might be enemies later." she continued in an awkward tone. Zoro frowned at the reminder of other incarnates, specifically CP9.

"Shishishi, did you now? It's nice to know he's doing well." Luffy said, completely unfazed about being enemies. If they were going to fight each other at some point, then so be it. He just hopes that it's a fight that he would participate in from the start compared to the other times.

Before he could talk about the mission he went on with team CFVY, everyone except for Zoro was backing away from them for some odd reason. The swordsman raised a brow at them until he noticed the pieces of the statue floating back into place.

Luffy's eyes darted around after seeing the debris before settling on a scowling Glynda as she waved her riding crop to repair the damage.

"Hi Witch!" he greeted cheerfully, but earned no response from her. The statue's fist hovered over him and slammed down on him, serving as a punishment for destroying school property.

After completing the repairs, Glynda's features softened when she shifted her gaze to the students. As hazardous as it was, Ozpin's decision paid off with the best results. None of the students appear to be seriously hurt, which is very fortunate in the case of the Buggy mission.

"I see you completed your tasks in a timely manner, as well as bring in some guests. You will report you completion to the headmaster." the professor spoke with a professional tone.

"She could loosen up." Yang muttered before she and the others followed Glynda to Ozpin's office.

* * *

The trip to the office was quiet for the most part. With such a large group, it took two elevator rides before everyone got there. After hearing both reports, he was rather pleased with the outcome as well as the new findings.

A wild animal that can use Aura, a Grimm that can use geokinesis, a number of new incarnates revealed (with two in front of him), and a makeshift method to suppress the powers of the devil fruit. What really piqued his interest was this new thing Luffy wanted to show them.

Ozpin stood in front of Zoro and Perona with curious eyes and a coffee mug. Both sides were scanning each other, trying to discern their character.

"Welcome to Beacon Academy. It must have been quite a trip to get here, where ever your home is." Ozpin started off.

"You have no idea." Perona muttered with a sweatdrop, earning a glare from Zoro.

"We took a boat from Mistral after hearing about Luffy from Qrow." Zoro informed, shocking the family trio.

"Uncle Qrow came to your place!" Ruby shouted in disbelief.

"Yeah... your uncle happens to be a friend of Mihawk." Perona cuts in. Weiss' eyes shot up at the mention of the best swordsman.

"W-why was the greatest swordsman with you!?" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"Oh, let me guess. In order to find someone that can give him a challenge, Mihawk took you in and trained you in the hopes that one day you'll be that one. A father and son relationship built on the hopes of having the son surpass the father." Nora gave a theatrical speech to the group, earning varying reactions.

While most of them gave her an incredulous look, Ozpin hummed in amusement for the in-depth summary. Zoro and Perona were stunned at how accurate her guess was.

"S-so cool! That could be a movie." Luffy commented with stars in his eyes.

"Based on a true story." the first mate added in a dull tone, shocking everyone at his indirect admittance. Luffy gaped at him for a moment before he started laughing at him.

"Hahaha! Mihawk is your dad!" Luffy said while still laughing, much to Zoro's annoyance. Of course he would laugh at the irony. The very person that he aims to defeat is the one that is raising him as a parent. Granted, he was taught by Mihawk in his old life as well.

"Anyways. It looks like Shanks is here too, according to those two." Zoro moved on, stopping Luffy and his hysterical laughter.

"Shanks? He's friends with my dad?" Luffy stood in bewilderment, wondering why Qrow hasn't mentioned anything about him. The others were left in the dark as to who Shanks is, which Ruby and Yang noticed.

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about a red haired man, would you?" Ozpin asked, earning nods from the former pirates. He recalls the name quite well, remembering that Shanks was a particularly strong huntsman.

Although, he travels across the lands of Remnant taking jobs from any kingdom whenever he pleases.

Ironically, that might be the way Luffy wants to live as a huntsman.

"He was the one that got Luffy set on being a pirate in the first place." Ruby informed with a soft smile. She couldn't blame him for seeing Shanks as a role model, not after everything that happened between them.

"Don't forget that he's also a New World emperor. I can only imagine him being a powerful huntsman here." Yang pondered, unaware of having an accurate guess. If someone as strong as an emperor is in Remnant, chances are high that he's a figure of great influence.

"You sure met a lot of strong people, Luffy." Jaune spoke with a shaky voice. A marine that controls gravity, his father leading an anti-government faction, and now an emperor who he idolized as a kid. There didn't seem to be an end to the list.

"It's a given, what with him trying to be the Pirate King." Coco made a point. With a title like that as a goal, Luffy was bound to meet such formidable foes and allies at some point.

"We're missing something here." Blake gained their attention before she voiced her worries.

"Zoro was in a rush to see you, Luffy. As if there was some sort of danger you should be warned about." she pointed out. Hearing that shifted the attention to Zoro as they realized they were off track.

"You found something on your way here, haven't you." Fox surmised.

"Yeah, I found out that the CP9 are here too. They're in league with the White Fang." Zoro brought the news. Ruby and Yang slightly paled at the info, but the others quirked a brow at the unknown faction.

Blake froze in disbelief when he mentioned the White Fang. In all of her time with the White Fang, she never heard anything about them. She could reason it to be a covert sect only known by the higher ups.

"I assume they're also incarnates? Where did you get this info in the first place?" Ozpin inquired. Perona facepalmed at the question of where they learned that.

"This idiot wound up lost and found four encampments belonging to them on our way here." Perona groaned, earning a tickmark from Zoro.

Luffy, Yang, and Nora busted out laughing at his horrible sense of direction, angering him further.

"You're such a blockhead!" they cried out in unison.

"Kinda makes you wonder who's more unfortunate. Him or the people that run into him when he's lost." Velvet sweatdropped.

"Anyway, they are from their world. The CP9 are a group of assassins that work for the World Government. Whenever they're in the area, it's either some big assignment or they're out to kill someone." Ruby informed, making the three stop laughing.

The students were left in dread at the description. They could only imagine CP9 being highly skilled and emotionless to be efficient killers for the government.

"Wait... if they used to work with the World Government, then why are they with a terrorist group?" Ren asked. For a group that worked with the law, it didn't make sense on why they switched to the other side of the law.

"Perhaps the atrocities that humans have done were just that great. Throughout history, the faunus have suffered due to humanity's ignorance. Now they seek to return the favor in the hopes of bringing stability to Remnant." Ozpin theorized.

The students had a solemn expression at the plausible theory. However, they believe that it's not going to happen the way they intended.

"Bunch of dumbasses." Luffy said in a sharp tone.

"Pardon?" the headmaster quirked a brow in curiosity. The others gave their attention to hear his opinion.

"Both humans and faunus are too stupid to see Grimm as a common enemy. Instead, they keep killing each other when they should've teamed up." Luffy expressed his thoughts.

"I'm sure we all agree here. Unfortunately, not everyone shares your simple thinking Luffy. Humanity can't help but reject things that they can't understand. The same could be said about the fishmen in your world, right?" Ozpin argued, causing Luffy to grimace at the reminder.

Being so different from humans, the fishmen have also faced their cruelty. Although, both sides are still subject to the whims of the Celestial Dragons.

It suddenly clicked to Blake where Luffy's opinion about the White Fang came from. If what Ozpin said was true, the fishmen have also held resentment towards humans. Thus leading to certain individuals that believe to be the superior species.

"They're still stupid though, Ozzy." Luffy muttered in annoyance. Feeling the conversation die down, Ozpin proceeded to another matter.

"In any event, what are you two going to do?" Ozpin inquired the newcomers.

He had some hope that both of them would choose to stay and attend Beacon. Zoro looked like a man of loyalty, so there was no doubt that he would stay with his captain. Perona was a bit of a mystery considering that she has no long term connections to his crew outside of Zoro.

The students were all for them joining, especially Yang. If the swordsman stuck around, she can try and make up for the bad impression. She does feel a pang of jealousy when she sees Perona near him, as if they were very close.

"If staying with Luffy means attending your school, then so be it. There's not a lot of Grimm left at home, anyway." Zoro reasoned with himself. The Grimm population shrank considerably back home. He's left with no choice but to rely on Luffy's luck on encountering some strong opponents, just like his previous life.

If nothing else, Luffy could spar with him. Speaking of the boy, Luffy beamed at his first mate for staying before turning to Perona.

"Oi, Ghost Girl. Since he's staying with us, why don't you do the same? It'll be a lot more fun that way." Luffy persuaded her. Perona crossed her arms and turned her head with a huff. She didn't need him to tell her that.

"Fine, I guess I'll stick around. It's not like I find being a huntress all that interesting." Perona resigned herself.

The group sweatdropped at her dishonesty, reminding them of Weiss' attitude.

"Given Luffy's nickname for you, I'd wager that these ghosts have something to do with your devil fruit." he guessed. Perona smirked before creating some Negative Hollows.

"I'm not much of a fighter, but I take pride in surveillance. These ghosts serve as my eyes and ears. Not only that, they can also lure Grimm since they're filled with negativity." Perona explained the details of her abilities. Her audience was slack jawed at the potential of her ghosts.

"S-such a thing is indispensable! You could easily keep a town safe from a Grimm invasion while you gather intelligence without putting yourself in harms way." Weiss babbled on about the usefulness of her power. It had all the perks that any huntsman would ever need in the field.

"So how do you fight?" Yatsu wondered. Perona gave him a half-lidded stare before opening a window in the office. She then sent a Mini Hollow out into the open air and snapped her fingers to make it explode. Luffy and Ruby grew starry eyed at the demonstration.

"Cool..." they praised, causing Perona to look embarrassed at the positive feedback.

Ozpin cleared his throat to get her attention as she closed the window.

"Perhaps we can come to an agreement later. Right now, I believe Luffy has been dying to show us something." Ozpin urged on with the boy nodding vigorously. As much as he liked to continue gaining more intel, night is approaching and the students need their rest after completing their missions. Zoro and Perona must also be tired from their journey to Vale.

* * *

The large group proceeded down the halls with Luffy, the two professors, and Zoro taking point. The swordsman thought it would be a good time to catch up.

"So, what have you been doing all this time?" Zoro inquired. Luffy tilted his head as he tried to summarize his childhood.

"This life had a lot more good things in it. I got to go to school, spar with my dad, play around with Ruby and Yang..." he listed off some of the things.

No living in the mountain, no fighting for his life in the wild, and most certainly no Garp to torment him.

'Sounds too normal. Any second now, he's going to say something ridiculous.' Zoro thought as he listened to Luffy. The boy's presence usually brought some sort of trouble into his life, which he's expecting to hear.

The students behind them also listened as they want to hear more about Luffy's recent childhood. So far, things look very cheery and filled with innocence.

"Oh! Then there was this one time I beat up a crazy butcher!" he blurted out, much to the sisters' chagrin.

'There it is.' Zoro thought with a sweatdrop. The audience stared at Luffy like gaping fish. That wasn't really something you should share with a cheery voice.

"From what Qrow told me, that's where you got that scar." Ozpin said as he pointed at the stitched scar under his eye. Luffy was still a little boy at the time, so there might have been a moment where the butcher nicked him.

"Yeah, but I got a scar like this before. I tried to prove to Shanks that I was man enough to join him by cutting myself under my eye with a knife." Luffy said. Now their eyes turned to saucers at the story.

"Are you... forget I'm asking. We all know the answer to it." Weiss palmed her forehead at the stupid question.

"I'd expect nothing less from my insane compatriot." Nora crossed her arms and stood proud.

"That's not something to be proud of!" her team berated her.

"Have you gotten word of the others?" he wondered. Seeing that Luffy was here, he'd thought that the rest of their crew were in Remnant as well.

Luffy wore a small smile at the question, staring at his hand as Aura shimmered on it.

"They never told you my semblance then..." he said, earning a confused look from Zoro.

"They're here, but not in a body of their own. As you may have noticed with your Haki, Mr. Branwen has multiple colors of Aura. That is where your crew reside." Glynda told him. Zoro's eyes widened briefly before turning to Luffy.

"Is that true?" Zoro asked in bewilderment.

"Yeah... my semblance lets me bond my memories with them and learn what they know. But after what happened on our mission, I can do something more." Luffy hinted. He broke from his reverie when he spotted the doorway to the training arena they were heading for.

"Neh, Ruby. You wanna see something cool?" he asked his cousin in glee. Ruby was taken off guard by the simple question before nodding her head. Luffy grinned before he focused on finding Ruby's Aura. When he connected, her rose emblem appeared on his left hand.

" **Aura Bond: Speed** "

The group quirked a brow at his 'Aura Bond' before their eyes shot open in surprise as rose petals started to dance around him. In the blink of an eye, Luffy sped off to the doorway, leaving them in the dust.

He couldn't stop himself in time, causing him to crash _through_ the door. While minds were blown at the action, Glynda's eye twitched in irritation.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Zoro comically shouted across the hall. Luffy was seen on the other side waving at them like an idiot.

"Well that was interesting." Ozpin commented, unfazed by the new ability and ignoring the hole in the door.

"B-but that was my semblance! How is he using my semblance!?" Ruby questioned while holding her head in disbelief.

"Yeah... remember that Minotaur in our report? Luffy killed the thing singlehandedly with Yang's semblance." Coco rubbed her head sheepishly at the memory. Everyone except Yang started to sweat bullets at the notion.

"That's...so...awesome!" Yang cheered with starry eyes, earning a series of facefaults.

'No it's not!' they comically cried at the terrifying combo.

"Oh? He took out a Minotaur on his own? I'd expect no less from him." Zoro stood impressed at the feat. Seems as though Luffy hasn't lost his edge while they were apart.

"That's the part you're interested in!? His strength alone nails us into the wall! Add Yang's semblance in the mix, and we'll become modern art decorating Beacon!" Jaune ranted in the middle of a breakdown.

At this rate, Luffy will become too strong for any human or faunus to compete against.

"More like modern _Arc_." Yang punned, earning groans all over.

"You make it sound like Jaune is going to be his first victim." Zoro pointed out, causing the said blonde to pale.

'He does strike a point. If he's interested in the Vytal Festival Tournament, we'd have to handicap him severely.' Ozpin pondered.

No doubt, Luffy would be interested in a fighting tournament, so it was a given. He shouldn't mind the extra challenge if he's restricted into certain criteria.

After entering the arena, Glynda started her repairs on the door before they begin to learn more on the new development.

"Luffy, there's this thing called a doorknob. You grabbed it, turn it, then open the door." Yang joked, earning a pout from Luffy.

"I know that! It's just that I can't control Ruby's Speed semblance yet." he argued. He was used to moving fast with Second Gear. Her semblance felt different to control than that of physical ability.

"So far you used Ruby's and Ero-Blonde's semblance. Who else is there?" Zoro asked, irritating Yang with the nickname. Luffy tilted his head as he searched through the series of Auras present.

Now that he has the time look more closely, Ruby's and Yang's nodes are smaller than the rest, yet the sisters have more Aura in themselves. As if what he has is a tiny part of theirs.

After a bit, he found Qrow's Aura node.

"Hmm... I could use dad's, but I don't want to." Luffy told them, feeling sad over it.

After pestering Qrow on what his semblance is, he gave in and told him.

Misfortune.

Qrow brings bad luck to those around him. The boy could tell it was not something his dad felt proud of having. It's handy to have near enemies, but his allies suffer from the indiscriminate semblance.

He doesn't want to hurt Qrow anymore than he did to himself.

'So he already knows his semblance.' Ozpin figured out after seeing Luffy's sullen expression. The students seem to get the hint as well.

Leaving Qrow's Aura, his search carries on until he finds Blake's. Except it's really, _really_ tiny compared to anything else.

Everyone stood in rapt attention when he tried to bond with Blake's Aura. They saw the emblem flicker, but it wouldn't fully activate.

"Huh? I found Blake's, but I can't bond with it." Luffy stated in confusion. This was the first time he was unable to bond with Aura that was inside him.

"So you can't use Blake's semblance? Try finding Weiss then." Ruby suggested, getting a nod from him. A minute later, his face strained when the Schnee emblem flickered. But alas, no active bond could be made.

Blake didn't seem so bothered to hear that he couldn't bond with her Aura. In fact, she's a little relieved. Her semblance is not at all suitable for him. She uses it as a means to avoid danger, but that is not Luffy in the slightest.

His approach is confrontational in nature, always facing the problem head on.

'Heh, and they say that Weiss is his opposite. She at least thinks her way through the problem.' Blake thought in sullen amusement.

"Hey Fox, can't you sense what Auras he has with Haki?" Velvet asked. Her team grew curious as well at the notion.

"Not entirely. While I can sense his crews' and his own, the Aura from his family are being drowned out by his crew." Fox explained. Due to how much the crews' Aura dwarves that of Ruby or Yang, theirs became undetectable.

Zoro had a thoughtful look on his face until he realized a common thread with all the possible bonds.

"Try looking for mine, Luffy." Zoro suggested. This was the only way to prove his theory. Ozpin caught on to what the swordsman was thinking, humming at the thought.

"Huh? But I can't bond with your memories." Luffy argued.

"That goes without saying. You can't bond your memories with someone who's of the living. Just try it, okay." Zoro urged on. Luffy complied, but his stomach growled.

"Ugh... I'm so hungry." he whined. A delicious smell entered his nose, causing him to jump up out of instinct. At the peak of his jump, he clamped his mouth over a drumstick with a happy expression.

"Ehh!" everyone was taken aback from the sudden piece of meat sailing through the air.

"There we go. This should tide him over." Ozpin said with a smile. After such a tiring mission, he would've figured that Luffy's stomach was at its limit.

"Thanks, Ozzy." Luffy said with his mouth full of meat.

"Don't treat him like a dog!" the students yelled in unison.

They turned back to Luffy to see no sign of food, concluding that he ate both the bone and the meat.

"That can't be good for him. Then again, his rubber stomach could probably handle bones." Pyrrha said with a sweatdrop.

The straw hat boy got back to his Aura search until he discovered Zoro's. To his relief, he managed to connect with his, creating a symbol in the form of a katana.

"Yosh, it worked! But what's your semblance, though?" Luffy asked. The Aura bonds don't teach him how they work. Unless he knows what it is, the semblance may as well be unusable.

"I summon swords that I've wielded, as long as they don't exist already. I can't summon two Shisui or another Wado." Zoro explained to his captain.

Luffy pouted at the circumstances. He can't summon the Soul Solid he owns, and he can't use the weapons that Zoro wielded since he hasn't used them himself.

"I can understand that. If there was a copy of a unique sword, it wouldn't be all that special." Ruby stated. Zoro was a little amazed at how she values weapons.

Luffy can only recall one weapon in particular. Imagining its appearance, a long sword came to existence on his back.

It was the sword he wielded when he was Nightmare Luffy. Too bad Brook's swordsmanship isn't compatible with it.

"I think that will be enough." Ozpin called out. Luffy disconnected the bond, making the sword disappear before giving the headmaster his attention.

"Are you saying you ironed out the details?" Yang sent him a questioning look.

"Yes. But I must confess, you have the scariest semblance imaginable." Ozpin started off, confusing the others. Sure, it's extremely versatile, but they don't see the scary part.

"Your semblance improves through your friendly interactions with others. Your Aura holds a charismatic feeling to it, which allows you to draw in a person's Aura." Ozpin explained, shocking those present. Even Luffy had a surprised look, and it's his Aura.

"What's the catch?" Coco questioned. If that was the case, he should have a lot more nodes considering he's a social butterfly.

"A bond is not a one sided thing, however. Both parties have to think of each other as a friend in order for the Aura to be drawn into Luffy." Ozpin continued.

"And the reason why Blake and Weiss can't be bonded to was because..."

"Their affinity with him isn't deep enough. Either that, or they don't have unshakeable faith in him." Zoro concluded. It didn't matter how much time they spent with him, even though it can have a small part in it. If they don't share a strong enough bond with him, then he can't use their Aura bond.

"Wha-!" Weiss was about to tell Zoro off, but thought about how much faith they have for one another.

She still doesn't truly think that Luffy can be totally free as a huntsman, which might be the reason why there was no Aura bond. Blake rarely interacts with Luffy, so there's not much affinity to be built.

But the fact that a tiny bit of Aura was discovered must mean that they're on the right track.

Meanwhile, Luffy was testing the waters of his Aura bond by dashing around with Ruby's semblance like a little kid.

"Wow... imagine how fast he'd go if he stacked it with Second Gear." Nora commented in amazement.

"Please no. His body would be going through peoples' guts like a large bullet." Jaune whined. Ren and Pyrrha gulped at the macabre thought.

"Oof. Don't think I can _stomach_ that." Yang released another pun, much to their horror. Luffy stopped in his tracks and laughed at the joke.

"Hahaha! Good one Yang. That's pretty gross though, Jaune." Luffy gave his two cents.

"You scold Jaune for the disturbing thought, yet you laugh at the horrid pun." Perona deadpanned.

"Her jokes are funny." Luffy shrugged before zipping around again. After several laps, the rose emblem flickered out. Luffy skidded to a stop and stared at his hand in confusion.

"I can't use Ruby's semblance anymore. But I still have Aura." he stated. Keeping an eye on him, Glynda had a thoughtful look at the problem.

"Perhaps... you used all of her Aura that was currently inside you." Glynda surmised.

"Huh?"

"Mr. Branwen, you're able to use memory bonds until you and your crew run out of Aura since they are directly connected to you. The Aura bonds, however, are limited to the total amount of Aura the individual node has." the professor tried to elaborate.

"Uhh..." the explanation flew over his head a bit. Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She sighs as she tried to think of a way to incorporate food into it.

"Lets say you and your crew are a huge stockpile of meat, while Ms. Rose is a pack of strawberries. You eat the strawberries with the meat. But once you run out of strawberries, you'll no longer have their benefits until you get more." she revised the explanation.

Glynda hoped and prayed that Luffy actually got all of that. She started to blush slightly when she heard a couple snorts from those that listened to her embarrassing tale.

"Ah, I think I got it. If Ruby's Aura runs out, then I can't use her Speed semblance. So then I just have to wait for her Aura to recharge." Luffy narrowed it down successfully.

'Thank god, it actually worked!' Glynda mentally rejoiced, but it didn't stop the others from laughing at the explanation. Her eye twitched at the sight of Ozpin holding in his own laughter.

"At least I got the point across." she told herself with contained anger. The laughter soon died out as they were feeling hungry. None of them have been able to eat since they got back.

"Guess it's time to get some grub." Zoro said. Thinking on it now, he wondered who was going to cook. His body turned white when he heard Yang speak up.

"Think you got an idea for a large group, Luffy?" Yang wondered as they left the training room. This was the first time that Luffy was going to cook for more than ten people, so she didn't know what to expect on their plates.

As Luffy put some thought into it, Zoro felt frozen in place at the notion of Luffy cooking. The boy did try once in the last life, but all the food was inedible. The Straw Hats made a rule to not ever let Luffy cook.

"Umm... Zoro? You okay there?" Pyrrha waved a hand in front of him to get his attention. He broke out of his thoughts and stared at her in disbelief.

"You guys let him do the cooking?" he tried to keep his composure when he asked.

"Technically, it's not all him. He uses his semblance to connect to Sanji's memories and use his knowledge." Ren cleared up for him. Zoro felt a huge wave of relief at that. He never seen Luffy use the memory portion of his semblance, so the swordsman didn't fully understand it. When he recovered from the shock, Ren and team CFVY stared at him as he left.

"That's our hint on how bad Luffy is at cooking. It even scares someone as badass as Zoro. We should give our thanks to Sanji." Coco commented, earning some nods.

Back in the training arena, Ozpin and Glynda stood in thought of the field test that transpired.

"A semblance that scales to the number of faithful allies... that is overwhelming just to hear." Glynda shared her opinion.

"Indeed. While his memory bonds symbolize his faith in his crew, the Aura bonds put emphasis on his ability to befriend anyone he meets and earn their assistance. But as I said before, bonds are not one sided. The people he can connect to could get something in return." Ozpin said.

"You mean to say there might be _more_ to his semblance?" Glynda was dumbstruck at the possibility. Luffy may gain the use of their semblance, but what can they receive. There was also a matter of _how_ it could happen.

Luffy's semblance was a first for a lot of things for the two. He may just have the most powerful semblance known to Remnant. That being said, certain figures might take interest in it if word ever got out.

"We have to make sure this discovery remains a secret between us. If Atlas hears of this, then it's only a matter of time until they try to make his potential a destructive weapon." she warned her superior of the dangers. The last thing she wants is for the boy to end up as some lab rat for science.

"Oh my, you seem more concerned for his well being than you let on." Ozpin teased, getting a glare from his colleague. He knows that Glynda isn't showing favoritism towards Luffy, it's just more worrying to know that he has a lot of trouble to deal with.

But it's so much fun to mess with her.

"We should eat too. I think I'll have a meal consisting of meat and strawberries." he joked before chuckling at her expense.

"I hate you." was all she retorted with.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **This is the first half of their reunion. There's still much for them to talk about.**

 **For now, the only Aura bonds (Semblances) available to him thus far are: Ruby, Yang, Qrow, and Zoro. I would add Taiyang if I knew what his semblance was going to be.**

 **Even with all the limitations of his semblance, Luffy would still be overpowered by the time the Vytal Festival rolls in. That's only if he fights with _everything_ at his disposal.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	32. Reunion: Part 2

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 32**

The entire group migrated to the student kitchen for a dinner they've been waiting for. Luffy, Ren, and Blake made their way to the cooking area, leaving the rest to wait at the tables. The two groups weren't separated by any walls or doors, so whatever discussion there was on one end could be heard by the other.

They could understand why Ren would join Luffy since the quiet guy would find interest in learning to cook something other than pancakes. Blake was a mystery, but Yang's assumptions brought a sly grin to her face.

"What's gotten into Yang?" Perona asked with a tilt of her head. Ruby and Weiss let out a sigh of exasperation, knowing what the girl is thinking.

"She's shipping Luffy and Blake from behind the scenes." they said in unison. They sweatdropped at the dull tone the duo used, as if it was old news.

Which it is, technically.

Zoro snorted at the subject before tuning it out. He's not one to butt in on someone's personal affairs.

"Yang is in for an impossible mission then, when you consider how dense the guy is." Coco commented. If he didn't feel any attraction to Robin or Nami, then what are the odds of him being infatuated now?

But she guesses that won't stop Yang from trying.

"Shouldn't she focus on convincing Luffy then?" Pyrrha wondered. Hearing the question, Yang slumped in gloom.

The redhead did make a point, if not for the fact that Yang already tried to persuade him with no success.

Which is why she chose a different approach by getting the girl to try and worm their way into Luffy's life instead of convincing the dense boy.

"Anyways, what are the CP9 capable of?" Weiss inquired Zoro. She wants to remain one step ahead of the White Fang in case they plan to assassinate her. Her family is their number one target, so she needs as much of an advantage as she could get.

Seeing this as an important matter, Zoro gathered his thoughts on their abilities.

"Each of its members are very strong overall, but you also have to watch out for their Rokushiki ." he started off.

"Rokushiki?" they gave a quizzical stare at the term. The swordsman huffed in annoyance. Did they expect something like weapon mastery or Devil Fruits?

The sisters looked like they have an idea of what he's about to talk about, most likely from the memory bonds he heard about as well as Luffy's experience.

"It's also called the Six Powers. A martial arts style comprised of superhuman techniques. If Luffy could use Ero-Cook's moves, then you must've seen Skywalk, right?" he asked, earning a series of nods.

"That was called Geppo ( _Moonwalk_ ) by them. They're one and the same." Zoro told them. Shock was present on their faces as they process the fact that Luffy isn't the only one that could fly like that.

More people that could walk through the air... already a good start.

"Have the both of you used any of them?" Pyrrha spoke up in wonder. Since Luffy has proven to be able to use one, chances are that he has learned the rest of them in the past life.

"Not really. Although, Luffy did incorporate some with his rubber body." he rubbed chin in recollection.

"Oh! Like his Second Gear! He told us that was an imitation of one." Ruby recalled with realization. Zoro gave a small nod in confirmation.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Jaune whined as he placed his head on the table in dismay. If there was on thing that Second Gear was known for, it was the absurd speed.

He could only guess that was the technique they have: moving from one spot to another in a blur.

The others collectively gulped as they came to the same conclusion. Now that they know, they _really_ need to adjust to the enhanced speed lest they become overwhelmed.

"There's also Rankyaku ( _Tempest Kick_ ), which lets you use your legs to launch flying slashes. Although there have been times where someone used a different part of their body." Zoro moved on with the list of Rokushiki abilities. Letting the info sink in, it was easy for them to see that it's not so different from using a sword to perform the attack.

"Tekkai ( _Iron Body_ _)_ hardens their body to the point of being iron. Shigan ( _Finger Pistol_ ) allows them to poke a hole in your body with their finger, as if you were shot by a gun. And Kami-e ( _Paper Art_ ) makes their body go limp like paper to avoid attacks." he quickly summed up the rest of the abilities that CP9 have.

Taking in the other half of the six, they were all self explanatory. Although Tekkai made them wonder if it was the same as Armament Haki.

"Is there a difference between the Iron Body thing and Armament?" Jaune voiced out everyone's thoughts. They were expecting Zoro to answer, but instead it was Luffy who overheard them.

"You can move your body with Armament on, but not with the Iron Body. The only guy that went against that was that wolf guy Sanji fought." he informed them over his shoulder. Hearing the boy now, the group at the table wondered what exactly he was making.

"You finally figured out what to cook?" Perona asked, her hunger causing her to grow a little impatient. Luffy pouted at her for the question.

"I'm still not used to cooking for a lot of people. For the longest time it was just us three, my uncle, and my dad." Luffy defended.

He never really learned any recipes meant for fifteen people as opposed to just five. Although he might have to use one recipe and double the amount of ingredients to make twice as many servings.

A few seconds later, they started to feel their eyes burn to the brink of tears somehow. Pyrrha seemed to pick up on the reason why it was happening.

"Are you cutting onions?" she questioned, still feeling the tears threatening to spill. She got her answer when Ren, Luffy, and Blake turned to face them in a similar condition.

Blake was holding a knife in one hand with an onion in the middle of being chopped, Luffy was cutting potatoes into chips, and Ren was removing the rib from the kale.

It was amazing how much that one onion did.

"Just ignore it as best as you can. Anyway, the strength of Armament is based on your will while Iron Body improves through physical condition." Zoro got back on track with the differences between Iron Body and Armament.

"So what you're saying is the tougher the body, the stronger the technique." Yatsu summed up. If that was the case, then all they had to do was train their bodies.

"It's troublesome, either way. But it's not like they become literal iron. They're still flesh and blood." Weiss countered, recalling her battle with Mr. 3. If armored foes become a problem, then she'll just have to burn through the armor. The same should work for a hardened body.

With the CP9's capabilities explained, silence overtook the group as they continued to wait.

Meanwhile, the cooks took out two roasting pans and made a bed of kale, potato, and onion mixed in with olive oil. Luffy was sweating profusely as he held the knife, staring at the chicken leg before him.

"D-damn... this is the hardest part about cooking food." he muttered, caught in a deep struggle. Blake saw his shaking hand and wondered why it was so hard for him. He didn't have any problems cooking before as far as she could tell.

"Look, you don't have to be so precise. Just don't cut all the way through." Blake tried to put his mind at ease. As if he forgot about his struggle, he turned to her with a quirked brow.

"Of course I know that! I just keep fighting myself from eating the chicken right now." Luffy retorted. As much as he wants to eat it all, his friends are just as hungry as he is.

In a way, he's honoring Sanji's morals. If someone's hungry, then it's a chef's job to feed them. Even if he has to fight against himself. Out of respect to the cook, he also refuses to use the Black Leg style against a woman.

It's the same with Chopper and tending to someone's wounds. Granted, he won't do it for enemies he recently harmed.

That would just defeat the purpose if they come back to fight him.

"Oh." Blake sweatdropped. It wasn't the cutting, but rather a internal battle between cooking the food and eating the food. It took all of his willpower to not pounce and devour everything.

She never realized that Luffy had his own struggles every time he cooked for them.

"If it's that hard, then let us take over. We got the recipe down by now." Ren offered, but Luffy shook his head.

"No. I want to be more responsible. I managed to learn how to do some chores at home, and right now I haven't lost my scroll once." Luffy explained. The two stood in surprise of his intentions, admiring his drive to face his previous problems. At the same time, it was sad to hear that Luffy was inept with chores.

Eventually, Luffy finished the last bit of the preparation as he placed the chicken legs in the two roasting pans, seasoned them, and covered the pan in foil.

"The fact that you actually did a chore surprises me." Zoro commented as the three slipped the pans in the oven and started a timer. He would assume that it had something to do with Luffy's alternate upbringing.

With the short amount of time that passed, the swordsman can say that his captain changed a little during their time away. Most notably his consideration toward others. Restraining himself from eating the meat before them is clear proof of that.

"Yeah, he was a bit of a disaster until dad drilled it into him. Now he can wash dishes without breaking any." Ruby said, sounding proud of her cousin. Luffy held a victory sign with a grin at his first mate, as if it was something to celebrate.

Zoro humored him and gave him a few claps of applause.

"That's not something to be so proud of." Fox muttered.

Nora was racking her brain for any stories she wants to hear from the two former pirates. She beamed at the thought of a good starting point, quite literally.

"While the food's cooking, tell us how you two met." she demanded. Everyone perked up in interest of the subject.

"I'm... actually curious myself. How did you end up with him." Perona voiced her own interest to Zoro. The two were an unlikely duo at first glance, given their clashing personalities.

The two smirked in reminisce as they recalled the day they started sailing the seas together.

"I met him in a Marine base. Zoro was tied to a post for saving a girl." Luffy started to weave the tale. The lack of detail was easily caught by Zoro, much to his frustration. Before they could wonder about the marines' action, Zoro spoke up.

"I killed a wolf that was attacking her. Turns out the wolf belonged to Helmeppo, the Marine captain's son. I agreed to be tied to the post for a month without food." Zoro told his side of the story.

"That was his own fault! He should've kept a tighter leash on it." Blake ranted, earning nods of agreement.

"Either way, Zoro went through with it. Coby and I came to the island when he was still serving his time." Luffy piped in. Brows rose at the name of another companion.

"Coby?" Velvet wondered.

"Mmm. He was Alvida's cabin boy before he left with me. He wanted to join the Marines, but we're still friends." he said. Just the name brought up annoyed looks from Ruby and Blake.

"I hate her Devil Fruit." Ruby said in a low tone. Blake was lost in thought as she recalls the suggestive things the woman said.

"Anyway, Luffy heard Helmeppo talk about executing me before the month went by. After that he decided to have me join his crew."Zoro continued. They felt some disgust for the lack of honor the brat of a son had.

"And then you said yes?" Nora guessed with some excitement as the story went on.

"Heh, no. I didn't want to be a pirate at the time. If anything, he decided that I was joining without my consent." Zoro stated, getting sweatdrops in response. Luffy was truly selfish when it comes to who joins his crew.

"In the end, you really didn't have much of a choice. It was either break out and be a criminal, or suffer a disgraceful death." Yang pointed out.

"In other words, Luffy caught you at the perfect time." Coco commented. If she was in Zoro's shoes, she would've went with option A too.

"Shishishi. Yup! After we broke out and beat the Marine captain, we helped Coby join the Marines before going our separate ways." Luffy ended the tale, making sure not to leave Coby out of it.

The group suppressed a giggle at the thought of a pirate letting someone become their enemy.

"Wow... that's a good story. I can only imagine how crazy the rest of the journey was." Jaune joked.

"You get used to it eventually, just like everyone else." Zoro assured him.

The timer 'dinged', telling Luffy that it's time to remove the foil and let it roast more.

Blake once again joined in to keep an eye on him in case he fails to restrain himself. Weiss quirked a brow at this.

"She seems to enjoy being close to him. Now if she could stop keeping her distance from us, that'd be appreciated." the heiress muttered offhandedly.

While it was nice and all, it would be better if Blake was less guarded around her own team. Granted, she wasn't any better since she has yet to tell them anything about herself.

"At least she's comfortable with someone." Ruby said with a soft smile, not feeling bothered about the distance. Blake looked like a cautious person, so she could understand the small steps the girl was taking.

Luffy is just that easy to open up to.

As she continued to stare, Blake was subconsciously drawing similarities between him and a friend of her father's. The unruly black hair, the black eyes, and the grin they wore. Although Luffy had a round face and eyes as opposed to the sharp features she remembers.

From what she can recall, they both share the love for freedom as well.

'T-that's got to be a coincidence. There's no way the two have a connection.' Blake reasoned with herself, shaking off the disturbing thought. She was just reading into it too much.

"Blake?" Luffy broke her out of her thoughts. When the hidden faunus focused on him, he was giving her a confused look. Blake realized that she was staring at him for the longest time, forcing her to avert her gaze with a light blush.

"Sorry, I spaced out." she apologized in embarrassment. Luffy accepted the reason with a shrug before getting a sketching book out. With Ussop's superb drawing, he passed the time in an effort to stave off boredom by making some drawings. Some are illustrations of those he met, some are just for laughs.

The one he's sketching falls under the latter of the two. Seeing him in the middle of sketching, the rest of the group migrated over to him.

"I guess this is one of Ussop's things." Zoro figured out after noticing the sniper bond. The long nosed man was the one that made their flag as well as that snow sculpture at one point.

"Is there anything you _can't_ do, even with their memories?" Jaune wondered. Luffy may be able to learn what they know, but it can't necessarily mean that he can potentially learn everything. Something that he can't get no matter how much he tried.

"Singing." the sisters told him in a dull tone. Even with Brook's memories, Luffy's ability to sing is still horrendous after all the time he put into it. To them, it sounded like fingernails grinding on a chalkboard.

"At least it's not something significant." Yatsu commented.

"Even if I can't sing, I can still play some instruments like the violin. Brook could use his violin to put people to sleep or hypnotize them to think they're in a festival." Luffy informed while keeping his eyes on the paper he's drawing on. The students quirked a brow at the mention of using instruments, making a quick note that Luffy has never shown them one.

"That sounds very useful, but... why haven't we seen you carrying a violin?" Weiss questioned with everyone nodding at the inquiry. As amazing as it sounds, Luffy has never taken the opportunity to use that in battle.

"Because it gets in the way. I like to punch things, so I don't keep it on me." Luffy said. It felt impractical to have a violin on him since there was a good chance he might break it somehow.

They nodded in understanding, but still wondered how music could have a mystical effect on the audience.

Luffy lets out a sigh of relief as he placed the pencil down.

"All done!" he signaled. Ruby nabbed the book and eyed the multiple drawings across each of the pages. Each page had four characters, one on each corner. When she scanned through them, she noticed that it was everyone in chibi form.

One page had team RWBY, the other side had team JNPR, and team CFVY was on the next page with the three incarnates on the backside. The empty space on the last page was filled with a chibi wolf, most likely this 'Timber' that Luffy befriended.

"Oh my gosh! They look so cute!" Ruby cooed at the sight of the their chibi counterparts. She handed it to the next person, leading to a chain until everyone had a good look. Perona and Weiss did their best to hold back their squeals when they saw the illustrations.

"What brought this on all of the sudden?" Velvet couldn't help but wonder.

"I got bored and everyone was making such a big deal about my drawback with Third Gear." Luffy answered matter of factly. The rabbit faunus chuckled sheepishly at the reason. She might be the one to blame when she took two photos of his chibi mode.

The timer 'dinged' once more, catching Luffy's attention.

"Yosh! It's finally ready!" he cheered as he ran over to the oven and pulled out both pans and placed them on the stove to cool down. Taking that as their cue to grab a plate and fill it with food, everyone rushed to do just that before Luffy took all of the meat.

They were greeted to the sight of roasted chicken legs over a bed of kale, potatoes, and onions. All served with a side of lemon wedges.

The smell alone almost caused some to salivate. They don't know if they could handle it if it was Sanji himself that cooked it.

By the time they got what they want, the boy got a few extra pieces since a few of them leaned more on the veggies than the meat.

Coco was the first to take a bite before melting at the taste. The chicken was seasoned just right and had a bit of juice to it, and the vegetables were tender and moist from said meat juices. No one on her team had any remarkable cooking skills to speak of, making this change in pace all the more welcoming.

"This is really good." Perona muttered in delight. They couldn't help but nod in agreement with her.

"Yummy!" Luffy patted his belly with a grin, his food already devoured. Team CFVY looked at him in shock of the speed. They soon noticed that a stretchy arm was making its way to another plate, but stopped when Luffy glanced at Ruby twirling a knife in her hand. Surprisingly enough for them, the arm retreated back to its pouting owner.

"Whipped." Jaune joked, getting a couple of snorts.

"Luffy's cooking is actually better than Dartboard Brow." Zoro commented. At the moment those words came out, the chef bond flared up with a bit of static.

"What was that _marimo_!" Luffy shouted at him. Heads mechanically turned to Luffy in disbelief of what they heard. Zoro was gaping at his captain for using that nickname. Luffy has never, _ever_ , called him that in their lives.

Luffy blinked twice before looking confused himself. Ruby soon noticed the bond on his hand that was flickering in and out, giving her an idea of what happened.

"I was giving you a compliment!" Zoro comically shouted at him. Luffy waved his hands in front of him to calm his first mate down to no effect.

"But that wasn't me! I mean, it came out of my mouth. But it didn't feel like it was me." Luffy defended himself.

"You're not making sense!" Zoro yelled with shark teeth.

"I think he's onto something." Ruby spoke up, earning their attention.

"It wasn't Luffy that spoke, but Sanji. He had to use Luffy's body to speak to you." Ruby explained. Even if the explanation made some sense, it still brought up more questions for them.

"But why now? This had to be the first time that this ever happened." Velvet stated.

"It is, but I think it's because Zoro insulted Sanji like he usually does. Their bickering was rooted in so deep that even being a spirit won't stop Sanji from returning the insult." Ruby elaborated.

Thinking about it now, young leader got under the impression that his crew might be able to get in touch with him somehow. If Sanji could use Luffy's body like that, then it should be possible for them to contact each other.

"Such a rivalry is beyond legendary." Weiss muttered in annoyance. She could see the two continue their persisting arguments in the afterlife.

They soon returned to eating after solving the strange case. Nora stole some glances at the notebook away from them, having a plethora of ideas for the chibis.

"That's it! We're going to make plushies of our chibi selves!" Nora shouted out, startling the people close to her. She can see them selling like hotcakes to the right audience.

'Ruby's would be the big seller.' Yang thought to herself with half lidded eyes, believing her sister's cuteness would make a huge hit. Her lilac eyes lit up at another marketing idea.

"Keychains could work. You know... I think you're on to something." Yang had a thoughtful look on Nora's random idea. This could be the start of something amazing. If Pyrrha can end up on a cereal box, then maybe they can have a line of products for fans when they reach stardom.

"Crane game." Jaune spoke up with confidence. Heavy silence loomed over them as they wondered where he got that idea from.

"Is that the thing that has the claw?" Luffy wondered. Jaune's hand tightened into fists in anger of the cursed game.

"Yeah. The one that robs you of all your money before you know it. The one where they win the more you play!" Jaune's voice rose with each sentence. His team leaned back a bit at the anger in his tone.

"Sounds like the words of a victim." Zoro commented.

Before they knew it, dinner was over as they cleaned the tables and washed the used dishes. Team CFVY and JNPR went ahead to their dorms while the rest took a slower pace to discuss where the two newcomers will be sleeping.

"Looks like you'll be sleeping in my room, Zoro." Luffy pointed out. Hopefully the school got that part covered. Otherwise he would have to make another bed.

"Seems that way. But that leaves Perona." Zoro said as he jabbed a thumb to the ghost girl.

"Well I'm not sleeping in the same room as you two." Perona rebuked against being with two guys. A hand on her shoulder got her attention, causing her to turn around to find Ruby smiling at her.

"We can share a bed!" the young leader beamed at her own suggestion. Her team only had girls, so she figured that might be more comfortable.

Perona wanted to form a sentence, but the sparkling silver eyes and child-like demeanor was making the words die in her mouth. She can't ever say no to such an innocent face.

'C-cute.' she thought before she gave a shy nod of acceptance.

"That settles that I guess." Yang said. The blonde could imagine the adorable sight of the two cuddling on Ruby's bunk.

Blake ignored them as she stared at her chibi counterpart with a twitching eye. The first time, she skimmed over it without much thought. Now that she looks at it more closely, she caught sight of something that shouldn't be there.

"Luffy, why does it look like my chibi has a baby bib with a fish on it?" she asked as she pointed at the drawing. The rest of her team looked over her to see what she's talking about. When they did see a bib on Chibi Blake, they used their hands to cover their mouths to hold back the laughter building up.

"Looks good on you, Blake." Yang joked through her giggles. She turned away from her partner to avoid the menacing glare pointed her way.

"Because you go 'goo goo gah gah' over fish." Luffy answered with a stupid grin. Team RWBY and the incarnates gaped at him. It was hard for them to believe that Luffy made a joke at Blake's expense, much less make one at all.

The girl's face burned bright red in embarrassment with her previous anger gone. Her love for fish was very obvious to her friends, but she never thought that Luffy would make a joke out of it.

The sisters fell to the floor in a roar of laughter while Weiss and Perona remained standing with their hands over her mouth, while Zoro just grinned.

"After seeing how Yang makes her puns, I thought I'd try making a joke." Luffy explained, giving Blake a reason to facepalm.

Of course this would be because of Yang's influence.

"Well... you succeeded in making a funny joke." Blake admitted, glancing back at the group who were laughing. The laughter died down when they needed to catch their breath.

"I'd even say that you surpassed Yang in every way." Blake jabbed with a smirk. Yang perked up at the offending comment.

"Hey!" the blonde whined.

"You don't see us laughing at your puns." her teammates deadpanned in unison.

Yang slumped to the ground with a pout, muttering something about critics. A masculine hand landed on her shoulder, making her wonder if Zoro was going to cheer her up.

"Don't worry Ero-Blonde. You'll still be the best pervert in school." Zoro said dryly, resulting in tickmarks on her head.

"Oh really! Well I hope you'll be happy with the title 'Beacon's _Strayward_ Swordsman'." Yang shot back.

"Strayward?" the others wondered.

"Yeah. He strays away from people and is too stubborn to admit that he's lost." she elaborated, earning a scowl from Zoro.

Knowing what was about to happen, the five tuned out the inevitable banter between the two until they got to their dorms.

When the former pirates entered Luffy's dorm, they noticed the addition of another bed in one of the empty spots.

"Heh. It's hard to believe that this is your room." Zoro commented as he scanned the space. The room had a few clothes strewn about, but other than that it's fairly tidy.

"Zoro..." Luffy called out in a serious tone, forcing the man to put the sightseeing on hold. It was clear that Luffy needed to speak to him in private, things that should stay between them.

"It's great to have you back, Zoro. Our crew is almost whole with only Jimbei left." he started off. He considers the spirits alive even though they don't have a body of their own. Their Aura dwells within him, and that Aura is proof enough that they're alive.

Zoro stood with his arms crossed over his chest, remaining silent as his captain said his piece.

"In order to face whatever this world throws at us, we all have to be strong. But it can't be just the two of us getting stronger. Ruby, Yang, and everyone else... they need to overcome their own obstacles without our help at some point." Luffy said, this time with a small frown. As much as he wants to protect his friends, he can't have them using him as a crutch when things get tough.

They need to have an unshakable will to call their own.

"In other words, just do the same thing we've been doing with our crew. But this time, we're using our past experiences to pull them along." Zoro summarized for him. Luffy scratched his head as he wondered if that was what he tried to convey.

"Huh? I guess so. But I want them to be ready for people like the Pigeon Guy's group." Luffy said. The CP9 were some of the toughest opponents they faced. No amount of simple training from the academy could prepare them for the former agents.

"I understand." Zoro acknowledged. Believing this to be the end of their discussion, he took off his jacket before hopping into bed.

"Also..." Luffy brought his attention. Zoro quirked a brow at his captain.

"I want you to help Ruby and Jaune." the raven haired boy finished before tossing himself onto the mattress.

Even if it was vague, Zoro understood simply by staring into his eyes. The two were leaders with little experience. They have good potential as leaders, but it doesn't mean that they're immune to mistakes.

The first mate took Luffy's orders seriously to respect his position as captain. However, there were times that Zoro had to point out the severity of the situation for Luffy.

Like the time when Ussop tried to rejoin their crew after leaving on bad terms.

With that, the two fell straight to sleep.

* * *

Through closed eyes, Blake felt the eyes of many on her. Slowly opening them, the first thing she sees is a bunch of silver eyes.

'What?'

She stood up in confusion and looked over the lookalikes. Her amber eyes turned to saucers when all she could see was a swarm of Ruby's... Chibi Ruby's.

Blake turned about to see four glass walls surrounding them. On the reflection of the glass, she realized that she's also chibified. Even when they're both chibis, each Ruby were midgets compared to her.

She spotted a familiar bib around her neck. She tore it away from her and threw it away with a huff.

"Hi Blake!" the redheads greeted with cheer in unison. Their megawatt smiles nearly blinded her with their purity.

"Uh... hi." she gave a small wave in return.

"Nice dream you got, Blakey." a familiar voice caught her attention. She turned to find Chibi Yang standing in the sea of Ruby's.

"My dream? Wait, how do you even know this was a dream in the first place?" Blake asked in a skeptical tone. Yang rolled her eyes at the question.

"Should it matter? We're alive as long as you dream, so I don't see the harm in knowing." Yang explained.

"Fair point." Blake muttered with a sweatdrop. Hearing that though made her feel like she inadvertently murdered the people in her dreams by waking up.

"Thanks to you, I'm a mother hen to all these chicks." Yang gestured to the two Chibi Ruby's that she's bear hugging.

"Right..." the black haired girl drawled out. "Anyway, where are we?" She took in her surroundings to discern a location.

"In a crane machine." another voice chimed in matter of factly. Weiss enters the scene with half lidded eyes as she is also waist deep in redheads. The black and yellow duo looked up to confirm that there was indeed a metal claw hanging above them.

"Seriously, why are there multiples of you?" the heiress complained to one of the clones, who shrugged in indifference.

"Between you three, I'd rather have clones of Ruby. You're not all that welcoming, Weiss." Blake explained. If this was her dream, then some of the things would be to her preference.

"B-but... what about your own partner?" Yang comically cried.

"You mean well, but you're very meddlesome." Blake said bluntly, earning nods from the others.

A bunch of Weiss' would be a headache with all the nagging and know-it-all demeanor, Yang won't ever let up with the teasing, and she doesn't know what to do with a cluster of herself.

Which leaves her team leader, who has been nothing but an understanding angel to her.

"Oh come on. Where's the love?" Yang slumped. The army of redheads moved over to one of the sides.

The three joined them to discover three more crane machines, one for each team. One member from each team have been chosen to been cloned midgets like Ruby. Team JNPR had Nora, team CFVY had Velvet, and Luffy's group had... Luffy.

"I always wondered if rabbits can multiply." Fox joked with the crowd of tall rabbit ears, earning sweatdrops from Coco and Yatsu.

Blake stood with her hands on the glass, staring at Luffy's group with longing.

"Zoro, do you mind switching places with me?" Blake requested. Yang perked up at the thought of having Zoro next to her.

"That would mean having to deal with Ero-Blonde, so no." Zoro turned down coldly, causing Blake to hang her head in defeat.

"Come over here and say that to my face! I'll knock your teeth in!" Yang threatened with shark teeth.

"I like to see you try!" he challenged.

Meanwhile, the Nora's got into formation as one of them was about to start a coronation.

"My faithful compatriots, let us start the new government called a polymonarchy. All of us are queens of equal power with three loyal subjects." Nora announced to her clones, getting loud cheers in return.

"Pfft. Queens are nothing in the face of god." Jaune argued as he pointed at the claw overhead. The thing could literally pluck them out of their 'castle', so calling it a god sounds fitting in their perspective.

"I think our god is on the move." Ren stated dryly as he watched the claw move. They turned to see a silhouette operating the crane machine using the joystick.

"Oh look, another sucker wasting money on a rigged game." Jaune taunted.

"This is the pot calling the kettle black." Ren and Pyrrha said in unison.

The figure pressed the button that lowered the crane. The descent was quicker than expected as it suddenly latched onto Jaune's head.

The boy screamed as he was being dragged off the ground with Pyrrha rushing to his aid.

"Jaune!" she panicked as she jumped and caught his legs. She hanged on for dear life, but his jeans were pulled down his waist to reveal his boxers.

The clones of Ruby covered their innocent eyes from seeing this while the other girls looked away.

"Gah! Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted at her with his face bright red at the exposure. Pyrrha also turned scarlet at the mishap.

"I-I'm sorry." she apologized hastily, looking down to avoid staring.

"Hang in there, Jaune! We'll bust in and get you out." Luffy declared. Behind him, his clones were busy hurling themselves at the glass window with no luck.

"It's not working! Quick, throw Zoro!" one of them ordered. Zoro flinched when their gazes met him. He turned to Perona and Timber to the ghost girl petting the chibi wolf in content, not caring about what happens.

He had no choice but to resign himself to his fate as a few raven haired boys carried him and tossed him at the glass.

His body failed to break through the window, causing him to slide down after faceplanting against the transparent object.

"What made you think that was going to work!?" Zoro shouted as he popped the Luffy that gave the order on the noggin.

'I can't even tell if this is my dream.' Blake thought. She began to notice the dwindling number of Ruby's along with Weiss and Yang.

"Come on guys! Attack the shadow person!" Ruby called out, standing near what would be the exit to the machine. She held her hands out to give her clones a boost and escape.

Outside the window, the escapees hopped on the legs of the giant person, causing him to freak out. Velvet clones soon joined fray and managed to topple the figure, smashing the back of his head against the crane machine.

"How..." Weiss wondered as she looked to team CFVY's machine. The space was barren aside from the three members, showing that Velvet had the same idea.

Jaune's head slipped out of the claw's grasp when the figure went unconscious.

"Freedom!" Jaune cheered. He blinked a few times until he realized they're suspended in the air. The two fell back down with a yelp, with Pyrrha cushioning the fall.

"Oww." he whined. The blonde propped himself on his hands, only to feel something round. He peered over to where his hands are and gaped when he saw them resting on Pyrrha's bosom.

The redhead groaned as she came to. When Pyrrha spotted his hands on her chest, she sqeaked as she knocked him off with a swift punch in the face.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized afterwards. She might have hit him too hard with his body being launched into the exit that the claw would've brought him to.

"Guess we'll break out too." Yang said. Everyone followed the clones' example and boosted each other into the exit. The one's left behind were lifted up with the help of the last boosted person.

"Haha! We're out!" Luffy declared, raising his arms in triumph.

Yang and Zoro ran to each other with cocked fists. When they got in range, both fists connected to the other's face. The two stumbled back and tried to act tough. They refuse to admit that the punch actually hurt a lot.

"What's the matter, Zoro? Is your fist made of pillows?" the brawler taunted.

"Heh, your fist felt like a gentle breeze." he goaded. The Ruby clones swarmed and separated the two before things got ugly.

"Alright! With our newfound freedom, we shall-" Nora was cut off by a bop on the head from Luffy.

"Stop that. Blake's the one that decides what we should do." Luffy scolded her, earning a pout from the hammer wielder as she rubbed her lump. Blake looked at him in surprise of his words.

"Why me?"

"Because it's your dream." Luffy answered with his hands on his hips and a grin plastered on his face.

"I still don't think you guys should be aware of that!" Blake pointed out in annoyance.

"What should we do then?" he asked, ignoring her previous remark. Blake shrank as she was put on the spot with everyone's gaze on her. She was never the type to lead the herd, unlike Luffy.

"I...I..." Blake couldn't finish her sentence when the creaking of a door nearby got their attention. Bright light poured in, blinding the chibis.

When the hidden cat faunus was able to open her eyes, all she got was the view of Yang's bed above her. She sat up from her bed with a little bedhead and took in her surroundings.

Team RWBY's dorm room, which means her dream ended abruptly.

All she could hear is the sounds of Yang's snores, but it isn't disturbing the three on the other side of the room. Weiss looked so peacefully still as she slept while Ruby and Perona were cuddling together on the leader's bunk.

She took a look at the clock and saw that it was two o'clock in the morning. With a sigh, she plopped back on her bed with a frown.

Blake didn't know how to answer the question. She usually left the planning to Ruby, Luffy or Weiss. The latter of the three is strictly for tactical purposes. In the end, she was indecisive. A sign that she has uncertainties and doubts.

Another trait that is a complete opposite to her crush.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Volume 4 has finally concluded. Now I might be able to finally start up on my next story idea without having to worry about any new reveals.**

 **Please leave votes and reviews for feedback.**


	33. New Students

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 33**

Mornings were always interesting in one way or another with team RWBY. Like when Ruby slowly opened her eyes, her vision was still dark.

'It _is_ morning, right?' she wondered. The young leader pulled her head back to find out for sure, only for bright light to creep in. Her silver eyes spotted Perona's chest inches away from her face. Now that she knows, it almost reminded her of how Yang would cuddle with her back in Patch.

The ghost girl subconsciously wrapped her arms around Ruby's head and pulled her back into her cleavage, smothering her with her knockers. Ruby could only let out muffled noises and try to push her away as she had a hard time breathing.

"Don't leave me, Kumashi." Perona pleaded in her sleep. Ruby stopped struggling and tilted her head up to breathe and look at Perona's soft expression. Behind the walls that guard her real emotions reveal a lonely girl that longs for company.

Just like Weiss, minus the perfectionist attitude.

"Morning Ruby." Blake greeted with a yawn, hearing the muffled sounds from her bunk.

"Oh, morning Blake. Is anyone else awake? I'd check myself, but Perona is clinging to me at the moment." Ruby asked. After seeing how content the ghost girl is right now, she'd feel bad if she pushed her away. Being smothered in between the fleshy pillows is something she got used to with Yang anyway.

"Yang is still asleep and Weiss is in the bathroom getting prepared for class. Luffy and Zoro are most likely asleep, too." Blake answered.

"Great... could you wake those two up then?" Ruby requested. Blake hesitated on answering, knowing that the last time she tried rousing Luffy from slumber ended in embarrassment.

"Why not Yang first?" she figured she'd asked for the sake of avoiding it.

"Cuz if you wake her up first, she'll watch you do whatever it takes to wake Luffy up and tease you." Ruby deadpanned, causing Blake to sweat bullets at the strong point she made.

Yang would follow Blake not only to tease her about Luffy, but to also be the one to wake Zoro up.

With that logic, Blake hopped out of her bed and quickly transferred from her dorm to Luffy's. The sounds of snoring rose higher with the addition of Zoro, but she beared with it.

The problem still stood like back then: how was she going to wake them up without resorting to violent methods? Racking her brain for an idea, she paced around the room until a proverbial light bulb lit up.

"That's it! Water Dust." she muttered to herself. If he made soap pellets by encasing said Dust with soap, then Luffy should have some left over. A splash of water never hurt anyone and it should be enough to wake them.

She scanned the room in search of the various jars that held the pellets until she saw them in the bottom shelf. After skimming through the variety of slingshot ammo, she spotted the one holding deep blue orbs.

The hidden faunus wondered how he actually made them. Does he just mix the liquid fire and ice Dust properly and put them in a glass bead? Either way, Dust can gain a lot more versatility if done right.

The Schnee Dust Company would flip if they saw this.

Any further thoughts were put on hold as a hand landed on her shoulder, startling her. Blake was then pulled away from the shelf and suddenly wrapped up in stretchy arms.

"Gotcha!" Luffy whispered behind her. Blake felt heat rise to her cheeks as she was embraced in a rubber cocoon.

"I-I didn't think you'd be awake." she stammered in the tight embrace. Her cat ears twitched when she heard soft snoring, confusing her. With little difficulty, she turned herself around to find out that Luffy was still asleep.

'How did he catch me?' she wondered, amazed at how he nabbed her in his sleep. Attempting to ignore the fact that her face is mere inches away from his, Blake struggled to break free from his grasp.

"Wake... up... Luffy." she demanded with a grunt at each failed attempt to break free.

"You're not escaping now, flying meat." Luffy mumbled in his sleep, causing Blake to sweatdrop. Apparently his dream involves a flying piece of meat that he's clung onto.

"Quit wasting time and get the food over here, idiot." she heard Zoro mumble.

"Shut up." Luffy replied with a pout.

As weird as it looked, Blake was really impressed that the two could bicker in their sleep. What's next, Luffy eating food while he's asleep?

...She could actually see that happening, disturbing as it is.

Luffy moved his head over to her ear. Blake shuddered as his breath met her ear, but soon stiffened when Luffy was about to bite it.

She almost forgot that he mistaken her for his dream meat. Adrenaline coursed through her body as she shifted herself so Luffy would be on top. With a surprising burst of strength, Luffy's arms unwound themselves when she broke out of the cocoon.

At that moment, the snot bubble popped as Luffy woke up and Blake got up into a crouch.

"Huh... oh hi Bl-" he was cut off when Blake's fist sunk into his skull. The force of her uppercut sent his head through the ceiling, The rest of his body dangled above her as she panted from the panic of being eaten. If he tried, he could use his stretchy mouth and stuff half of her inside.

When the panic subsided, Blake blinked owlishly at her fist then glanced at Luffy. She had no idea where that strength came from.

"Huh, is it morning already?" Zoro asked after being woken up from the crash. He looks over with tired eyes to see Luffy stuck in the ceiling and Blake staring at her fist in confusion.

"What the hell happened!?" Zoro shouted with shark teeth, startling Blake. The shout went unheard as everyone else rushed to the doorway. Their jaws dropped when they spotted Luffy before they shifted their gaze to Blake.

Yang could only whistle as she stared at the impressive feat. When she thought about it, this is the first time Blake has ever hit Luffy outside of spars.

"Oi! What was that for!?" Luffy shouted at Blake, his voice muffled by the ceiling. He didn't know what he did to deserve a punch in the face upon awakening.

"You tried to eat me!" she yelled back. Luffy's body calmed down upon hearing that, crossing his arms in thought.

"I did? Hehe, sorry." Luffy apologized. He would've rubbed his head sheepishly, but the ceiling was in the way.

"I doubt he could actually eat you." Pyrrha sweatdropped.

"He managed to stuff half of Yang in his mouth." Ruby puts it out there to prove otherwise, earning wide eyed looks.

Her sister shuddered at the memory. Why did he think it was a good idea to do that during a spar. Took forever to get rid of the saliva.

"Nice job, Blake. You managed to wake both of them up." Weiss applauded, trying to ignore Ruby's statement.

"That's all you could say?" everyone wondered incredulously.

Luffy pressed his hands against the ceiling in an effort to free himself. See the struggle, Zoro grabbed both of his legs and yanked him down.

"Whew... thanks. You sure pack a punch though, Blake." Luffy grinned at her, taking note of the launching power it held.

"I surprise myself sometimes." Blake muttered. She was saddened that she had to resort to more forceful methods. Getting thrown out of bed, slapping, and now giving him a fist to the face.

"Hurry up already! We still need breakfast!" Nora chimed in. Everyone jolted at that and ran back into their rooms to do their morning rituals. The large group rushed to the cafeteria without any idle chitchat, trying to have time to reach class _normally_.

As much as some would like taking the rubber shuttle to their class, they'd rather avoid a tongue lashing from Goodwitch.

By the time they got their food and sat down, the students were panting from the marathon they ran. Much to their annoyance, Perona floated her way to her destination without tiring herself.

"Phew... All that running built up an appetite. Lets eat!" Nora cheered with her tower of pancakes in front of her. Luffy shared her sentiments with his starry eyes staring down on his tall stack.

"T-there's two of them." Zoro muttered with a twitching eye, just noticing their love for food.

"Sadly, yes there are. If it makes you feel any better, Nora doesn't eat as much as him." Ren assured him. When it was anything other than pancakes, Nora still has an appetite. But she doesn't have a rubber stomach and godlike metabolism.

He had to respect the crew's endurance with starvation when they have a glutton for a captain.

"Are you even allowed to have your sword with you at all times?" Blake wondered, staring at Wado.

"This sword is as important to me as Luffy's hat is to him." Zoro said. He blinked twice when something else clicked.

"Wait a second. I could just use my semblance to get a sword anyway. Besides, your partner's bracelets are her weapons." he countered as he pointed at Yang's Ember Celica.

"At least mine are concealed." Yang gloated with a smug grin.

"A concealed weapon sounds even worse." Ruby deadpanned, earning a series of nods. Yang pouted at her sister for bursting her bubble.

Weiss' eyes shot open when she noticed a problem that was overlooked.

"The headmaster never told you two what classes you'll be taking!" she blurted out, gripping her head in frustration. The others at the table looked at her with wide eyes.

She's right. Ozpin never mentioned anything to Zoro and Perona about their classes, they just assumed that the duo would be with Luffy.

"He's probably trying to figure that out right now. I mean, they did just suddenly show up out of nowhere." Pyrrha mused. Luffy tried to say something, but he could only sputter bits of pancakes out of his stuffed mouth. They gave him a sharp look for talking with his mouth full, wordlessly telling him to swallow.

"*Gulp* It'll work itself out in the end. Just let Ozzy handle the important stuff." Luffy paid the problem no mind, earning a couple of sighs.

The straw hat kid always had to make things sound so simple. Then again, that's what sets him apart from everyone else. A lot of the times, that's all it takes.

"I'm glad to hear you have faith in me, Luffy." Ozpin spoke up, causing Jaune to all but jump out of his seat. He didn't hear a single sound from the headmaster, as if he just teleported to them.

"I take it your here about our team assignment." Zoro guessed, earning a nod.

"From what I hear from Ms. Nikos and Mr. Branwen, you are absurdly strong for your age much like your captain. In that regard, you'll be under the same conditions as him." Ozpin informed the swordsman.

"Conditions?" Zoro raised a brow at this.

"Oh! You get to be the fifth teammate on really tough missions, like when I was with Coco's team yesterday." Luffy explained. Zoro gave a dark grin, liking the sound of being sent on challenging missions.

What better way to push one's limits than a challenge.

"Heh, now that's something I can get behind." Zoro said.

"What about me?" Perona asked, noticing that she was not mentioned.

"Lets just say I have a more... interesting proposition for you." Ozpin avoided giving the details. He wanted this to only remain between the two of them for the time being.

While everyone present quirked a brow at his vague answer, Luffy looked up at the clock with a quizzical expression.

"When does class start again?" he asked as he stared at the clock that read 8:55. A pregnant pause took over as the others turned their attention to what he's looking at.

"...We're going to be late!" Weiss shrieked, causing Luffy to go pale. If they end up late, they'll probably get more work stacked on top as punishment. Something that Luffy would rather avoid lest he get another headache.

He shot his arm in a circle and lassoed everyone into him and shot his other arm to a beam near the ceiling. Perona activated her Semblance to phase through the arm before she got caught.

"O-oi..." Zoro sweated bullets when he saw through Luffy's intentions. Everyone except his two cousins and Nora comically cried at what's about to transpire. Weiss conjured a glyph above her head and formed a thick helmet out of what little ice Dust she has on hand in case of emergencies. There was even a hole on the side for her side ponytail to go through.

Eyes twitched at how prepared she is.

"Gee, Weiss. Can you make another one for me?" Blake requested, feeling a little irked.

"Sorry, only have enough for myself." Weiss said, causing the hidden faunus to hang her head in defeat.

"We'll just take the crash head on." Jaune tried to inspire confidence in his friends, but got dull looks in response.

Thinking back on his words, he just realized the pun he made.

"Yes! All aboard the Pun Train!" Yang cheered as Luffy laughed, much to the others' horror. They turned to Ozpin in desperation, hoping he would be opposed to this. Much to their dread, he raised his hand and offered a salute.

"Godspeed, my students. You're class should be in that direction." he said, gesturing Luffy to angle himself properly.

"I'll catch up later." Perona noted as she is still curious about the headmaster's proposal.

"Shishishi, later." Luffy grinned before launching everyone through the roof, leaving a hole for Glynda to play 'janitor' with. The two were left alone to stare at the damage with a passive expression.

"So... what do you have in mind?" Perona asked. Ozpin had a glint of amusement at that.

"How would you like to have a haunted castle of your own?" he gave an incentive, one that got the ghost girl grinning.

"I'm listening."

* * *

School was just as boring as Zoro expected it to be.

After starting off by crashing into professor Port's classroom and shocking the students present, it soon turned dull once the round man started babbling on about his younger years.

He's honestly surprised that Luffy paid any attention to him, though it might have something to do with story telling. He would've slept through the entire class if it wasn't for Ruby and the others interfering. Perona joined the class a little after it started, with a cheerful grin at that.

It was the same when they entered professor Oobleck's class. Nothing but lectures and note taking. Not like he could really keep up with what the coffee addict was saying at the speed he was going.

Professor Peach was... odd to say the least. Where Port teaches Grimm Studies and Oobleck teaches History, Peach's class is focused on medical treatment out in the field. Having to learn about the variety of herbs in Remnant and how to apply them is an essential for huntsmen who are far from town.

Students say that she's never in the room with them, always leaving worksheets at the desk for students to pick up and do their work. Many students struggle with her class because the professor is never around to guide them through. They had to learn on their own instead of being spoon fed by adults.

An effective way of teaching someone to be responsible for themselves, if he had to make an opinion.

He has no knowledge in anything related to medicine, always leaving it to Chopper. But now the reindeer is part of Luffy's semblance, giving him a major advantage in class.

After enduring the lectures and paperwork, the swordsman was rewarded the one class that he would always look forward to.

Glynda's combat class.

The thought of quenching his thirst for battle excited him. He lives for the thrill of fighting. If he wasn't fighting, he was either training or sleeping.

He scans the numerous youths seated around the arena to see who would be a skilled opponent. As much as he wants to spar with Luffy, he wants to reserve the fight for Emerald Forest so they won't be restrained by the confined space of the arena. They both have a tendency to overdo it and destroy the surrounding area.

Based on the glare Glynda is pointing at Luffy, she's not in a good mood after repairing the hole in the cafeteria.

"Someone looks excited." Yang pointed out as Zoro looked around for potential fighters.

"The oaf has battle on the brain. On our way here, he never had any challenges. Grimm and the White Fang did nothing to stave off boredom." Perona explained, letting out an exasperated sigh at his priorities.

"Seriously!? How did he train to get that strong?" Weiss inquired.

"In the forest where our home is, you'd be lucky enough to find a small Beowolf. We're talking a place loaded with Alphas, Majors, Deathstalkers, Wolverines..." Perona listed off the various species that Zoro encountered.

The green haired man earned some wide eyed looks for what should be impossible living conditions. No huntsman could last days in that place, yet Zoro _lived_ there for most of his life. It would explain the scars on his body. Said swordsman lets out a disappointed sigh.

"There doesn't seem to be any strong ones other than you guys." Zoro complained. While teams RWBY and JNPR were turning bashful from the praise. Coming from the former strongest swordsman, that meant a lot. He must have some high standards if he's going to narrow it down to just them.

Although, Jaune can't really call himself strong. He can't even overwhelm Cardin on his own, not as he is right now. All of his victories so far were won out of luck, not skill.

"Well, if one on one isn't going to satisfy you, then maybe fighting a whole team could give you a workout." Pyrrha suggested. Zoro had a thoughtful look as he wondered if that was best for him.

"Shishishi, Yatsu would be a good opponent for you." Luffy said, getting a grin from his first mate. He did notice the big guy carrying a large sword on his back. He'll have to keep that in mind. Glynda spared a glance to their group as they chat before addressing the students.

"As I'm sure you are aware, we have some new students joining us. If you want to get an accurate assessment of their abilities, now is the time." she announced. A lot of them knew of Perona and Zoro, sending the duo challenging looks. Zoro returned it with his own menacing stare, intimidating everyone around him.

'S-scary.' everyone thought in unison. Even RWBY and JNPR felt a chill in the air. Luffy looks around to see the youths sweating profusely.

"What's wrong with them?" Luffy asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Seriously!? Do you not feel like you're in the presence of an apex predator?" Weiss wondered with an incredulous look.

Pyrrha was with the heiress on this. How could he be so immune to the bloodthirsty vibe coming off of him? All three times she fought him, the celebrity could never get over how unnerving it is.

She could understand people living for the thrills like Yang, but never to such an extent.

"Geez, stop being a bunch of wimps! We're here to fight bad guys, yet you guys are acting like scaredy-cats!" Luffy scolded the students in disappointment, earning a small smile from Glynda and Zoro.

It pays to have a blunt person point out the problem in a real life scenario. Of course, it's all thanks to the old life Luffy lead.

The swordsman noticed Blake's bow droop, quirking a brow at it. How no one notices the movement, he'll never know.

Glynda sighed before she decided to choose the opponent at random using her scroll. Regardless if a student volunteered, she needed to get some combat data from the two. Neither of them have been in a combat school, so she would have to start from scratch.

Luffy and Pyrrha may be able to vouch for Zoro's skills, but that's just word of mouth. His presence in the tournaments didn't really help much either, despite him winning. What they needed is documented proof, like the student transcripts.

Faces flickered on the screen with no set pattern until it stopped on one person.

"Ms. Belladonna, come down to the arena. The same goes for you, Mr. Roronoa." she ordered, the two perking up at their names being called. Zoro quickly hopped over the railing and made his way to the arena.

"Good luck, Blakey!" Yang cheered for her partner.

'I'm going to need it.' Blake sighed before getting up to leave for the weapon lockers.

"Be careful, Blake." Luffy spoke up. Everyone turned to him with wide eyes, not expecting the show of concern from him. A gesture that was heartwarming to the person it was meant for.

"Don't worry. It's just a spar." Blake reassured him, but Luffy gave her a half lidded stare.

"I hurt you guys in spars too. Even if he holds back, you can still end up in a lot of hurt." Luffy warned, reminding everyone of Weiss' condition after fighting him. He handicapped himself so severely, yet she still got sent to the infirmary anyway.

The same may as well apply to Zoro.

Pyrrha sweatdropped at the true statement. She almost forgot the painful blanket of bruises she usually gets after losing to Zoro.

With that warning in mind, Blake took her leave to join Zoro in the arena. Not long after, the two were face to face on both ends of the arena.

Blake held both swords out in a stance while Zoro summoned two swords to his waist, but hasn't drawn either of them. Instead, he freed Wado from the cloth and drawn it.

'He must be gauging my strength. He'll only draw more swords if I cause enough trouble for him.' Blake surmised with a hardened gaze.

There was no doubt he learned to be proficient in using one, two, or all three swords. Having more just widens his options.

'She looks like a speed type.' Zoro made his own observation. Judging by her lithe frame and build, Blake's fighting style is more focused on evasion.

Ruby, Weiss, and Ren would also fall under the speed category. Yang and Nora are obvious power types. With the way things are heading, Jaune would also be a power type. Pyrrha... has a mix of both, but speed is more dominate.

"Begin!"

As soon as the battle started, Zoro held his sword horizontally above the shoulder of his sword arm. Blake didn't make any hasty moves yet as she tried to figure out what he's doing.

" **Ittoryu: Sanjuroku Pound Ho** ( _One Sword Style: 36 Pound Cannon_ )"

Blake's eyes widened when Zoro swung his sword in a circular motion to launch a spiraling flying slash at her. She dived to the side to avoid it, leaving the attack to hit the wall behind her and create a small crater.

"Just because I don't have a gun doesn't mean you can relax at long range." Zoro said with a wry grin.

Knowing that long range is out of the question, Blake rushed forth to meet him in a clash of blades. Zoro held a tight defense as he kept blocking Blake's strikes while throwing in his own to keep her on her toes.

Dodging the blade was easy enough for Blake, but she found herself losing ground. She jumped back from a low swipe to her legs. Zoro was already upon her with an overhead swing, but she held both swords up to block. The two were in a deadlock with Blake's arms shaking from the force Zoro is exerting.

"Why are you hiding your faunus heritage?" Zoro asked, keeping his voice low to ensure no one else hears. Blake was shocked with fear for being discovered so soon. Up until now, no one had the keen observation to notice her cat ears move.

Even when she was told of his terrible sense of direction, he seems to be very observant outside of that.

"That's none of your business." she hissed, glaring at him as sparks still flew.

"Maybe... but how can we trust you if you're hiding something from us?" Zoro countered with narrowed eyes.

Growing agitated with the conversation, Blake slid his sword past her and forced him back with a few swings. She could see where he's coming from, especially with Ruby's talk of trust after letting Coco's team in on how there are people coming from another world through rebirth.

Zoro is most likely the last person to trust you completely. You would have to come clean with anything that could harm the group as a whole. Sadly, she doesn't feel ready to show her faunus heritage yet, much less reveal her previous affiliation with the White Fang.

Zoro drew Yubashiri to move things along. With two swords in hand, he closed the distance between them and renewed his assault. He could've sworn he heard a fan girl squeal when he drew it.

This time, however, Blake was barely getting by both swords with a few close calls. One attack knocked her sword aside, giving him an opening. Gritting her teeth, Blake left a clone composing of compressed air as she jumped to the side. Zoro was taken by surprise when the clone exploded, blowing him away with a blast of wind.

The hidden faunus panted lightly as she got a brief moment of rest. Zoro got back on his feet before holding his swords parallel to each other.

" **Nitoryu: Nigiri** ( _Two Sword Style:_ _Two Cutter_ )"

Blake felt her eye twitch at the technique name. She doesn't know if he's intentionally making a pun related to sushi, but it's starting to stir up an appetite. She had to put that thought on hold as Zoro closed in on her.

" **Toro** ( _Climbing Tower_ )"

Zoro jumps with an upward swing, but Blake jumps back to avoid it. Another pun related to fish, much to her annoyance.

" **Otoro** ( _Reply Climbing Tower_ )"

Blake dives to the side to dodge the downward swing as the swordsman fell. The amber eyed girl started to give a low growl at yet another fish pun.

" **Hirameki** ( _Flash_ )"

Two horizontal slashes met her blades when she blocked, forcing her to skid back.

'I swear, if his next move is something related to fish I'm going to-'

" **Samon** ( _Sand Drawing_ )"

Feeling some part of her snap, Blake screamed before sidestepping the slashes sent diagonally at her. Attaching her ribbon to her katana, she threw her weapon at Zoro and lassoed it around his neck before tugging it down. Blake brought her knee up and slammed it against his jaw, causing spectators to wince at the hit.

His head reeled back from the blow, leaving him vulnerable to the butterfly kick Blake delivered to his head. Quickly severing the ribbon, he barreled across the ground before righting himself.

"What's gotten into her?" Zoro muttered. She was playing defensive at first, but her aggression jumped after that sudden shout rage. Was it for questioning her secrecy?

Meanwhile, Blake was trying to calm herself down. It wasn't like her to explode in fury, but all of the techniques are making her crave fish. It felt like forever since she had any.

"Damn! Where did that come from!?" Yang looked in awe at the martial art performed. Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

"But why did she scream?" he wondered. The others were left in thought about her random outburst of rage. Ren had a good idea after hearing the several technique names.

"Ohhh... they're all fish puns." he figured out in monotone.

"Huh?" they turned to him in unison, hoping for an explanation.

"Nigiri is a type of sushi, toro is a fat cut of tuna, otoro refers to the underbelly of tuna, hirameki is a sushi buffet, and Samon sounds like salmon." Ren exposed the hidden puns from the techniques.

"Why would he name his techniques that?" Jaune asked.

"I don't think it was his intention. Mistral does have another language where some of the words could be pronounced together to make a different one." Ren said. Mixed reactions of confusion and slight misunderstanding were met while Weiss tried to recall additional details.

"That was the language that they used for their messages during the war. Since the people of Mistral were the only ones to understand it, it made intercepting their communications impossible. Now that we're at a time of peace, the knowledge became more widespread." Weiss educated them. The heiress received a round of 'oooh's from everyone except Pyrrha and Ren.

Blake must've learned the language to expand on her reading.

"So it's a mystery language." Luffy stated, earning several sweatdrops and a facepalm from Weiss.

"Still, Zoro might dethrone Yang and become the king of puns." Nora brought up. Her words echoed to Yang, causing her to turn to stone and crack in horror.

There's no way she will be out-punned by the likes of him.

Back in the arena, Zoro threw back Gambol Shroud before drawing Sandai Kitetsu and placing Wado in his mouth. Blake can't even begin to fathom how having the third sword in his mouth would make him stronger.

Ruby's inner weapon senses tingled at the sight of the new blade. It was an amazing blade, to be sure. But she can also feeling something ominous from the sword.

"I won't allow myself to lose. Not ever." Zoro declared as he held both swords pointing at her. Blake was in deep focus as she attempts to anticipate his next move.

" **Gyuki: Yuzume** ( _Bull Oni: Brave Claw_ )"

After seeing his swift lunge, Blake left a clone of stone in an effort to slow him down. The statue was ineffective as he smashed through it and her, sending her flying with a shout of pain. Not giving her the chance to recover, Zoro leaped high in the air until he was over her with his hand swords over the mouth blade.

" **Tora Gari** ( _Tiger Hunting_ )"

The descending slash that connected sent Blake crashing into the arena floor with a crater. Both of the attacks left her Aura below half along with the unbearable pain.

Even still, she tries to stand up and fight. The winner was obvious at this point, but she doesn't want to back out because of it.

Try as she might, all she managed to do was stand up momentarily before her legs gave out and sent her to her knees.

"She knows she could admit defeat, right?" Weiss asked to no one in particular. It was hard to watch Blake force herself back to her feet. Blake's smart enough to see the clear victor, so why is she fighting a losing battle?

"You didn't do that against Luffy." Ruby pointed out, but Weiss shook her head.

"That's because I was arrogant. This isn't arrogance, it's being stubborn." Weiss argued.

"It sure beats running like a coward." Jaune commented. Something clicked with Yang when he said that.

Looking over to Luffy, the normally grinning boy has been staring at the fight with crossed arms and a neutral expression.

Luffy was no fan of cowardice and they know it. Blake doesn't want Luffy's opinion of her to drop for giving in.

'Oh Blakey.' Yang thought with a grin. Now her partner is starting to get predictable.

Said partner was now standing on shaky legs, breathing heavily.

"Heh, you ready for another round?" Zoro grinned at his opponent, who gave a small nod.

Zoro started his charge as Blake felt a second wind coming. The former pirate aimed a scissoring slash at her hips, but she jumped over it. What surprised him was her shadow being deployed to be a springboard to rush him with, forcing him to block.

He pushed her off with a flex of strength, this time she left a burning clone set to explode.

The blast engulfed his body, leaving a shroud of flames. Blake took a glance between the flames she created and Zoro's Aura. His Aura was slowly being chipped away from the burning he's enduring.

She felt his menacing presence and readied herself for him.

" **Yaki Oni Giri** ( _Burning Demon Slash_ )"

Blake widened her eyes at the sight of Zoro dashing through the flames, his swords set ablaze.

A burning sensation was soon introduced when Zoro landed a cross slash with his blades. Noise wouldn't escape her lips as she fell back to the ground with a thud. The buzzer sounded off to signal the end of the match.

"And that concludes the match. Ms. Belladonna, as reckless as your stategy was at the end, you have been successful in harming the esteemed champion. But doing so could place yourself in mortal danger." Glynda advised.

Her whole body was numb, but Blake heard either way. Zoro sheathed all of his swords and halted his semblance before standing over Blake.

"I won't tell them. It's your secret to tell anyway." Zoro assured her. While he would rather prefer her to come out and tell them, it's still her decision and he can't force her to make that decision.

"...Thanks." Blake said weakly, glad that Zoro won't rat her out.

They spent a few seconds of silence until Blake spoke up.

"You didn't use Haki, did you?" she guessed.

"You can tell?" Zoro replied with a raised brow, getting a nod.

There were no signs of him using a black blade, otherwise she'd be taking actual cuts on her body. All of her clones could've been predicted with Observation Haki, yet it never happened.

He held back, yet at the same time he didn't.

"Blake!"

Luffy hopped over to them and knelt down to look for any wounds on the girl.

"I told you to be careful. He's really, really strong." Luffy said.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Blake gave a sarcastic quip. Before she knew it, Blake was in Luffy's arms as he carried her away from the arena. Her body stiffened when she realized that the spectators are seeing her like this. Just imagining Yang wiggling her eyebrows at the two has her flustered.

"Oi Luffy! Lets head for the forest once you're ready." Zoro called out to Luffy, not noticing her distress. Looking back at the swordsman, the boy chuckled as he read his first mate's intentions.

"Shishishi... okay!" Luffy replied.

"C-could you put me down now?" Blake asked, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Luffy tilted his head in thought until he gave her a toothy grin.

"Nope!" she could only groan at his response.

"Please? This is really embarrassing." Blake complained. She wouldn't have minded it much if it was just the two of them. She doesn't even have the energy to push herself away.

"Huh? How is this embarrassing? You can't really move." Luffy pointed out. Blake just gave in with a sigh, seeing as Luffy had called her out on her fatigue.

"Besides... you're really light." Luffy added offhandedly. He was met with a fist from a red faced Blake.

"Don't just say that out of nowhere!" she exclaimed.

* * *

Perona's fight was very lack luster compared to Zoro's, especially when she can send her opponent into depression and bomb them to kingdom come. The rest of the class went by in the blink of an eye, leaving the group to spend the rest of their time at their own leisure.

None of the incarnates were around at the moment. Makes the two teams wonder what they're up to.

 _"Horohorohoro"_

Perona's laugh startled them as she rose through the floor using her semblance.

"Ahhh. It feels great to have my Ghost Network." Perona cheered.

She may not be getting involved with missions, but Ozpin thought of utilizing her ghosts for security purposes. Not only that, she can herd the Grimm in Emerald Forest to suit the school's needs.

Saves the staff so much trouble with capturing Grimm too. For teaching purposes, of course.

"You sure have a nifty semblance." Yang commented, thinking of the peeping possibilities by phasing through objects.

"What would happen if you run out of Aura as you phase through?" Weiss asked in curiosity, looking away from her notes.

Perona wore a thoughtful expression at the question. The only imagery she could think of is losing a limb to a wall.

"Nothing good..." Perona shuddered are the morbid thought. The girls accepted her answer and left it alone.

"Oh right! Where are Luffy and Zoro?" Ruby asked, hoping the Ghost Network caught sight of them.

Before Perona could say anything, black sparks erupted outside their window. Looking out there, they discover that it's coming from the Grimm infested forest.

"That would be them." Perona deadpanned. Team JNPR came in after hearing the boisterous clash between two former pirates.

"Are you guys seeing this!? It looks so awesome!" Ruby stared in awe, earning nods of agreement.

"We _feel_ that." Ren said.

"That's what happens when two Armaments are evenly matched." Perona informed them. The students turned slack jawed at that.

To think that occurs when fighting an equal. Two beastly fighters going at it, never giving in to the other's will. They can only fantasize how cool it'd be to be a part of it.

A small groan broke them from their thoughts as they turn to Blake lying in bed.

"You okay, Blakey?" Yang was by her side with concern. Blake had been parked in her bed since they got back. Her whole body felt sore from her fight with Zoro and she doesn't feel like getting up.

"Peachy." she said in a dry tone. Yang chuckled sheepishly at the stupid question. There was no leaving the arena without a sore body, especially after getting pounded by Zoro.

...That sounded really bad now that she thought about it.

"If it makes you feel any better, Luffy made tomatoes stuffed with tuna." Yang spotted a silver lining. Blake shot straight out of bed upon hearing that, shocking the others.

All signs of fatigue left her and she will not forfeit the chance to eat fish after so long.

Blake scanned the room until her eyes fell on the pan of tomatoes. The guts were taken out in favor of tuna and a variety of other things.

"I'll be out somewhere. Perona can find me." Blake quickly stated before grabbing a book and leaving the room with the pan of food.

Everyone sweatdropped at her love for fish. To her, it made up for all the pain she endured today.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Sorry guys. I'll leave the implied Luffy vs Zoro spar to your imagination.**

 **Similar to her previous life, Perona would be the security detail for Beacon. Zoro and Luffy are not necessarily a team, but a pair of special members that act as a fifth on another team. The two together would make a mission a breeze, therefore making it boring to write.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	34. The Fangs are Bared

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 34**

Menagerie has always been said to be cramped. After all, there's not much space on the island for the majority of the faunus race. Most of the land is filled with desert occupied by dangerous Grimm, even more so than most parts of the world.

Distant from the kingdoms, dangerous opposition, and a small amount of space. Just a way of showing that humans are a bunch of sore losers after the war, giving the faunus this piece of land and left them to fend for themselves.

Even so, it is still their home.

A lone figure stands on the balcony of the largest building in town, staring beyond the sea as if in reminisce.

Most of his body is covered in a long green cloak. It does nothing to hide the shoulder length black hair, the stubble on his chin, and his stern demeanor. Through a gap in the cloak is a monkey tail.

"Oh, there you are Dragon." a woman's voice pulled his attention away.

He turns his head to see a woman with short black hair with cat ears, each with gold piercings. She wears a black hakama with her sandals and white tabi socks. A black shrug with a long right sleeve can be seen over her outfit with black arm warmers that end at her middle finger. The left warmer has a purple band at the top and gold bangles at the wrists.

All and all, her face holds a strong resemblance to Blake.

"You know, you're always out here staring out in Vale's direction. Why is that?" she asked curiously. The man named Dragon breathed out of his nose at her observation. She's one of the few people to notice that quirk of his, along with Ivankov.

"You notice some of the oddest things, Kali." he commented.

"You didn't answer my question." Kali pouted. Her eyes went wide at a possible guess.

"You're not worried about my daughter, are you?" she assumed with a grin. Dragon's expression was always hard to read for her. He either has a confident grin, or a serious look on his face, making it almost impossible to read his thoughts.

Although, it's fun to play a guessing game on his thoughts.

"Blake's smart enough to handle herself. Her recent actions are proof enough." Dragon said. He's certain the girl is no longer blinded to the White Fang's approach to equality, otherwise Blake would have never done what she did.

Kali quirked a brow at his statement. Has there been a new development with her daughter? The fact that he knows show that he had an eye on her. Probably for their sake.

"According to our spies, she left the fold after a heist on a train. Whatever happened must've been the last straw." Dragon explained to the mother. Kali sighed in relief for her daughter's safety until worry seeped back into her mind.

"Why didn't you bring her into the Old Fang? The White Fang don't like the thought of a rogue spilling their secrets." Kali pointed out. They'll be on the lookout for her from now on. They won't risk the chance that their former member would turn against them. One doesn't abandon the violent faction except through death.

Before the change in leadership, Ghira lead the White Fang with Dragon as a personal advisor. Ghira does have leadership qualities, to be sure. But Dragon has a lot more insight than him. Dragon's desire to free faunus from oppression lined up to Ghira's wish for equality, leading to a powerful partnership. Eventually, the two grew to be friends. Some wondered why Dragon refused the seat of leadership even with his incredible insight.

Even though Ghira stepped down from leading the White Fang to tend to Menagerie, Dragon grew concerned about the changes that would take place within the faction. His concerns were soon proven valid when some of the members left after the new measures were in effect. According to the rogues, their ideology took a turn towards violence.

What's more worrying is the existence of Cipher Pol, specifically the ones that were once CP9 and later CP0. Lately, that group has been focusing their attention on Vale's branch.

Seeing that Ghira had his hands full with Menagerie, he decided to gather those members to form a covert faction called the Old Fang. The small organization comprise of mostly old White Fang members that held onto Ghira's methods and oppose the violence. He couldn't let Ghira's hard work go up in smoke because of some extremists.

It felt strange though, to be the Man of the People before this life only to lead a splinter group with the purpose of suppressing the White Fang's harmful activities. It was also ironic that he's targeting the former government agents that once hunted them down.

Some things never change.

"Blake had some other plan in mind, so I left her be. You two can at least rest easy now that she hasn't followed a dark path like you feared." Dragon gave Kali a reassuring grin. If their was one thing that they feared, it was their daughter supporting the White Fang's methods.

"I appreciate you for putting a bit of our minds at ease, but now it's your turn." another voice joined in.

A man of hulking size approaches the two. Like the other Belladonna's, he has black hair and yellow eyes with a thick beard. He wears a dark violet coat with fur trimming that's open to reveal his chest hair, a matching sash over his beige pants that are secured by a large metal buckle, black leather boots with white toes, and a metal spaulder with curved strips that attach to a clasp on the other side of the coat.

"Now that I think about it, you _do_ look towards Vale all the time." the man pointed out, causing Dragon to sweatdrop. Since when was his habit easy to pick up on?

"It's nothing to be concerned about, Ghira." Dragon waved off, earning a sigh from the man.

As usual, Dragon keeps to himself and won't share his personal thoughts. It's hardly fair for his friend to involve himself with his family, yet Dragon shares nothing of his own life. Not the easiest person to hold a conversation with either. He just wishes that it didn't feel so one-sided.

"Do the White Fang suspect your alliance with us?" Dragon asked suddenly, changing the subject.

"For now, no. Hard to believe how far they've fallen, what with their 'dark justice'." Ghira said solemnly, to which Kali comforted him.

For the time being, he has to feign ignorance to the terrorist organization's actions. The citizens of Menagerie are blissfully unaware of their actions as well. As much as he hated doing so, he knew they would see him as a threat if he stood against them just like Dragon.

He can't let Blake's last time seeing them end the way it did.

Kali's cat ears perked up as she heard footsteps coming closer. When she turned to greet the person, her smile grew at the sight of the top hat with brown goggles.

"Ah, Sabo. Finally, someone I can socialize with." Kali said in relief.

The muscular man had curly blonde hair under his top hat. His clothes consist of a long black jacket over his blue shirt and vest, gloves, a frilly cravat, light blue pants held up by a belt, and black boots. A long pipe could be seen holstered onto his back.

To anyone, he'd pass as a normal human without any visible faunus traits.

Sabo chuckled at Kali's complaints. It was usually business when it comes to those two, making him the only solace for Kali to have a casual talk.

"Come on, Dragon. They were nice enough to let you live here in secret while you plan the Old Fang's next move. Knowing _him_ , it's only a matter of time before he comes here, anyway." Sabo argued a point.

The leader of the Old Fang had a slight frown at who he's referring to. He never got to meet Luffy like he thought he would. Fate can be very cruel at times.

The two Belladonnas quirked a brow at the unknown person mentioned.

"Who are you talking about?" Ghira wondered. For once, he can actually learn something about his evasive friend. Whoever it is, the two must be very fond of them if Sabo's smile was any indication.

"...His son." Sabo replied, much to Dragon's chagrin. The guy sure loves to dote on Luffy. He remembers how much the former Chief of Staff went on about the boy after coming back from Dressrosa.

But now he's no longer his father in this life, which can complicate things later down the road.

Ghira and Kali blinked owlishly at the news before mechanically turning to Dragon.

"You have a son!?" they asked in unison, their eyes demanding confirmation. Kali was excited to hear this while Ghira was incredulous.

Why was it that they never met him yet? With how close Dragon is, they should've seen him at least once. Hell, he doesn't recall a time when Dragon was with a woman. It just doesn't add up, yet he feels like a part of it is true.

"...Yeah." Dragon answered with reluctance. He'll have to play along with this for now. It isn't a total lie, but they were father and son in a previous life that he has yet to explain to the two. They're both sharp enough to realize that something is up, but Kali seems to accept the partial truth anyway.

"Don't you have something to report, Sabo?" Dragon diverted the discussion. Sabo's grin dropped as he adopted a serious expression.

"Yeah. The Vale branch of the White Fang have been more active lately. It's mostly been organized robberies, but the amount of Dust stolen is staggering." Sabo informed them.

"Dust? Nothing else was stolen?" Ghira inquired. Sabo shook his head to confirm that. Dragon hummed at the news, pondering on why they would need so much Dust. What could they possibly achieve?

They also require money to keep themselves afloat, so why the heavy focus on Dust? Unless... someone promised an enormous sum of both in exchange for their help. Harrassing the Schnee family for their Dust would be up their alley and they would be paid for it.

"Seems as though they're working with someone behind the scenes. I doubt they were in wholesome agreement, what with their disposition towards humans. Either way, Sienna won't be too pleased to hear that they're working with humans." Dragon deduced.

The others were surprised at the deduction. To think they would collaborate with humans when they're against humanity. Either they're desperate, or this deal is just a means to an end.

Whoever these people are, they're not to be trifled with if they can earn the cooperation of CP0. There was no way they would've simply followed some rag tag group.

Finishing his thoughts, Dragon started to take his leave, much to the Belladonna's confusion.

"I'm going out for a walk." he said.

"Want me to come along?" Sabo asked, knowing what he's actually doing. A simple walk is a vast understatement as far as he could tell.

"No. I'll be going alone." Dragon turned down the offer. Sabo nodded in understanding, not at all agitated. There will always be a next time.

It took a second for the other two to get what he implied before nodding too. As soon as he was out of earshot, Kali bounced over to Sabo with curious eyes.

"So... What's his son like?" Kali asked, earning a sweatdrop from her husband. She knew for a fact that Dragon won't say anything about his son, so she turns to the one other person that would talk the day away.

Sabo chuckled at the woman's fixation on his brother. He rubbed his chin as he thought of the best way to describe him.

"He's... pretty much the opposite of your daughter as far as what you told me about her." he said with a grin, recalling that he never met Blake. He rarely comes to Menagerie as he receives his orders from Dragon via scroll.

Kali giggled at the description, already having a clue of how he is.

A simple-minded person that leaps before thinking and is a lot more outgoing.

"You know, that also applies to Dragon." Ghira pointed out. Kali groaned at the fact. Some of Dragon's traits rubbed off on Blake, much to her chagrin. She hoped for Blake to be more talkative to others, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

"I blame him for influencing Blake's secretive side." Kali complained, earning eye rolls. Another thought made itself known to her as they compared Blake to Dragon's child.

Would things be different if he was with them? Could it affect Blake in knowing that she has someone akin to a sibling?

She shook the thoughts out of her mind. There's no use wondering about what could've been when the past already happened.

"Luffy is also a complete idiot and very childish. Getting amazed at the smallest things and acting to the extremes." Sabo continued with a wide grin, remembering some of the stupid stunts he pulled when they were children. The Belladonna's raised a brow at the name, figuring that was his son's name.

"Not really anything you'd expect from someone related to Dragon, huh." Ghira commented, earning a sweatdrop from Sabo. On the contrary, Dragon is the odd one out of the three. Neither Luffy nor Garp have a stoic demeanor like him. Both of them are pretty laidback compared to the ever so serious Dragon.

"Probably because he took no part in raising him." Kali had a sad expression at the theory. Sabo nodded at this before speaking up.

"While it may seem irresponsible for him as a parent, Dragon still cares about him. He always has this homing instinct where he stares off in the direction of his family. That alone shows that he thinks about him from time to time." Sabo explained. He doesn't really understand how Dragon could tell if Luffy was reborn in the first place, as if he still feels like a father to Luffy.

The former Revolutionary isn't one to dote or worry about Luffy, especially after the boy became the Pirate King. Dragon had high expectations for Luffy, and he met them. They lived according to their own thoughts without any interference.

The two were left in thought as he told them. That could explain why he stares toward Vale. It's still amazing to think that Dragon had such strong instincts.

"You sure enjoy telling us about this. Dragon would be irritated with you for exposing so much." Ghira said dryly. Sabo rubbed his head sheepishly at the statement.

"I can't help it. He's my little brother in all but blood after all." Sabo defended, shocking them once more with a piece of trivia. The former Chief of Staff shifted back into a serious expression.

"Besides, it's for his own good. There are things we should've told you about before, seeing as you once lead the White Fang. Deep down, Dragon knew he would have to tell you eventually. It was only a matter of when." Sabo told them. Ghira frowned at the statement.

"I figured as much. I always thought that I was left out of something regarding them." Ghira said with crossed arms. Dragon was always a private man, yet he keeps things from the one other person that formed the White Fang in the first place. Especially if it involves said organization.

"It infuriates me so much to do nothing while someone close to me is fighting an army with meager numbers. Even more so when what I know is only a _fraction_ of what's going on out there." Ghira lets his frustrations be known.

"Ghira..." Kali muttered as she comforted her husband.

"I understand. But if anyone should tell you, then it's Dragon himself. You deserve that much. Just wait for him to return from his 'walk', okay." Sabo placated. The man is most likely gathering his thoughts on the matter as they speak.

"...Fine." Ghira accepted with reluctance. He should've kept pushing Sabo for answers, but maybe he had a point. They may have shared the same goal, but Dragon was always so distant from him. Sometimes he can't even convince himself that they're friends. Maybe this inevitable discussion will close the gap between them.

"Ghira, he may be very secretive. But has he ever done so with ill intent? It's not that he doesn't want us to know, but it was something we didn't _need_ to know until now. Now that Blake left them, she'll be regarded as a traitor to be silenced. An organization that both of you formed together is out to kill her now." Kali said.

Hearing the worry in her voice, Ghira invited her to an embrace. When she accepted, his large arms wrapped around her in comfort as he tries to wash away her worries.

"I only wish for her to be safe." Kali muttered.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she is. Blake is a lot more stronger than we give her credit for. She had the courage to break free from them despite the consequences, after all." Ghira comforted her, earning a small smile from his wife.

Smiling at the touching moment, Sabo took his leave to give them space. There was no way to keep a lid on the incarnates indefinitely, not when their daughter is on their hit list. Not doing so would cause a rift to form between them.

Speaking of family, he still needs to search for someone. Someone that he never got to see in a very long time.

* * *

Roman Torchwick was busy staring at the map of Vale, contemplating on his next move. He was told by the person he's working with that extra manpower is on its way. Buggy's shenanigans forced him to lay low until the police stopped sniffing around. He didn't have a chance to rob any stores as of late. He definitely wasn't hiring any men from Junior, not when they got crushed by two kids.

The sounds of footsteps came to his ears, causing him to turn and face them. He frowned momentarily when he spotted Grimm masks. Two men adorned in all black stood next to each other.

One had short red hair with bull horns while the other had wavy black hair under a top hat and a leopard tail. The Grimm masks they wear both cover the upper half of their face, with one fashioned to look like a leopard while the other looks like a simple visor. What also got his attention was the pigeon resting on the leopard's shoulder.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Roman's racial comment went unnoticed as the bull faunus' fist tightened. While he couldn't see the glare behind the bull's mask, the leopard narrowed his cold eyes at their 'ally'.

Unfortunately, they have to cooperate with this scum because of that damn woman. All in order to get closer to realizing their goal.

"When I heard I was getting help, I wasn't expecting it to be you guys on a tight leash." the criminal went on.

"Just make sure you meet our quota." the leopard faunus spoke up, earning a frown from Roman. He just has to be the serious type that doesn't do small talk.

"Hey, it takes time to work my magic. You'll get the goods." Roman defended.

"See that you do. The only reason you're still alive is because you're still of use to us. If you happen to fail, then we'll just _replace_ you with someone else." The man threatened. They made a deal to make progress. If this man's incompetence hinders it, then they'll just cut him loose... permanently.

They already have enough hinderances as it is. The Old Fang has been a thorn in their side for some time, and now there was the problem in Mistral where they lost several encampments to two individuals.

Roman felt a bead of sweat roll down his face, feeling the killing intent behind his threat. The two turned to leave with the threat hanging in the air until Roman said something.

"Good thing the rubber bastard won't be there to ruin it." he muttered, causing the leopard to stop in his tracks when he overheard it with his faunus hearing. The bull faunus turned to the emotionless man with a questioning look.

"Would you mind repeating that?" he asked. Roman raised a brow at his sudden curiosity.

"Oh right, you never got the memo. My last robbery went up in smoke because of two kids. Especially that rubber kid with the straw hat." Roman informed him.

"You lost to mere children? How pathetic." the bull faunus taunted, earning a glare in return. However, his colleague wore a small smirk at the intel. The two left soon after with that in mind.

Knowing Straw Hat, he'll somehow get involved with the upcoming heist. That boy has a certain knack for getting into trouble. Perhaps Torchwick will need their help after all. Although he can't bring them all into this since the Old Fang continues to interfere with their operations.

"Lucci?" the bull faunus broke him out of his train of thought. He must have noticed his change in demeanor.

"What is it, Adam?"

"You seem to be anticipating something. Mind telling me what it is?" he asked as Lucci returned to his usual expression.

"Trouble." he answered vaguely.

"Then I'll be sure to get rid of it." the red haired man declared in confidence. Even though Lucci showed no appreciation, he hoped that the Ciphor Pol agent would give him the chance to prove himself.

For someone born in Remnant, Lucci acknowledges the potential within Adam. His skills with a sword are exceptional, to the point that he piqued Kaku's interest. He also adheres to the belief that weakness is a sin. Whether it's his aspiration to follow in the footsteps of Cipher Pol or his own belief, it matters not.

Sadly, the one thing holding him back is that woman he calls 'darling'. If he is to realize his potential, he would have to sever all ties with her. There is no need to be weighed down by someone who isn't committed to their cause.

"Damn that woman! Making us cooperate with such a lowlife to lend aid to a human cause. Why did we bother agreeing in the first place? You knew you could kill those three!" Adam ranted to Lucci. It was just one woman with two lapdogs beside her. Given the skills Lucci possessed, it would take little effort to eliminate them.

"We only need them for resources so we can push back the Old Fang and carry on with our work. Once they're out of the way, we won't have as much of a need for it anymore." Lucci dropped a hint for what plans they have for the trio that negotiated an alliance with them. This was merely to improve their efficiency and nothing more.

Alliances go hand in hand with betrayal anyway. It just comes down to who betrays who first.

"So by that time, we can call off the agreement and regard them as obstacles toward our goal." Adam figured out, earning a nod.

"Just be patient for the time being. We won't gain anything if we act now." Lucci ordered.

"Heh... as calculative as always." Adam commented to the serious man.

Lucci's loyalty lies with the White Fang. He should've known that the leopard man had no plans to be lead around on a leash by the woman named Cinder. This is the kind of person that should be leading their group.

* * *

Ruby sat on her knees as she shrank under the stern gazes of Yang and Luffy. The rest of her team were minding their own business by either reading a book or studying. The other incarnates also have their attention elsewhere.

"Neh, Ruby..." Luffy started off, causing the girl to stiffen. "What happened to the chocolate chips?" he asked. The scythe wielder started to sweat bullets while she averted her eyes to avoid eye contact.

"I don't know." she only proved to be just as bad as a liar as Luffy. Yang leaned in closer and poked her sister's forehead with a deadpanned look.

"Really? Cuz I could've sworn we had a bag with plenty of chocolate chips left. But now it's missing." Yang brought up. The sweating intensified as Ruby refused to meet their gaze. The blonde squinted her eyes as she thought of a way to bust her sister.

"Hey, is that chocolate smeared on your cheek?" she planted the bait, knowing that there was no such thing to be seen. Ruby easily fell for it as she gasped in horror.

"Oh no! I thought I was careful!" she blurted out before wiping her cheeks with her hands, resulting in multiple facepalms. The redhead's eyes went wide as she realized that she turned herself in. She chuckled sheepishly at her mistake as Luffy approached her with a pout.

 _Thwack_

"Owie." Ruby whimpered at the steaming lump that formed on her head.

"Ruby~! How can I make any cookies if there's no chocolate chip!?" Luffy whined. The brawler sighed at the predicament. She's going to have to punish Ruby somehow.

"Looks like we'll have to make oatmeal raisin cookies." Yang said, causing Ruby to lose all color in her face.

"Ooh." everyone perked up at the notion, much to her dread.

Oatmeal raisin cookies are like the devil to the cookie gods. They're still good, don't get her wrong. But that's the temptation that will pull her away from the chocolate chip cookie, the true god amongst all other cookies.

"Ruby?" Weiss waved a hand in front of her face, but her partner didn't respond. She looked as though she was frozen in time.

"I think we broke her." Blake deduced. The girl sat there like a statue until Zoro decided to pick her up and place her on her bunk to recover from the shock.

"You sure it was a good idea to break her like that?" Zoro wondered, turning to the two fist fighters.

"I don't like it, but she needs to learn some moderation. Anymore sweets, and she'll end up going to the dentist with a cavity." Yang reasoned with crossed arms. The swordsman hummed in response, taking note of her motherly nature.

She soon turned to Luffy as she grabbed a test sheet off the desk. Likewise, Luffy had his own test sheet in his hand. Weiss stared between the two as they stood in a standoff. With a quick turn of the paper, they revealed their test scores. The heiress took a glance between the two numbers, a grin forming on her face.

Yang scored a 71... while Luffy scored a 72. That one point difference was like a bullet that struck Yang in the gut, bringing her to her knees.

'They're still low scores.' the others thought with a sweatdrop. If Zoro had to be honest, Luffy's score would've been nonexistent without his bonds and Weiss' strict tutoring.

"H-how could I lose?" Yang said in a defeated tone. Luffy cheered at how he managed to get a higher score than his older cousin.

"I think both sisters are broken now." Zoro muttered, receiving nods in response.

Yang slowly stood back and gave Weiss a determined gaze, causing the heiress to quirk a brow.

"Study session... now." she growled, her eyes shifting to red. She won't let this stand. She's going to blow Luffy out of the water with the next test. But for that to happen, she'll need the same tutoring that Luffy received to beat her score.

Weiss couldn't get any words out as Yang grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. The white haired girl stumbled before turning to Luffy with a thumbs up, to which he returned with a grin.

The others gaped between the exchange until Yang and Weiss left the dorm.

"Wait! That was part of some plan!?" Perona wondered incredulously. Luffy quirked a brow at her.

"Plan? She didn't tell me anything." Luffy told the honest truth. He figured that Weiss was happy that Yang wanted to study of her own volition.

"Yang has been struggling with her tests lately. I guess Weiss wanted to change that by helping you get a better test score than her." Blake theorized. Luffy stared at her as the gears turned in his head to piece it together.

"So Yang doesn't want to be so stupid." he concluded. The others sweatdropped at the summary. At least he got the gist of it, especially since he's the one that called her out.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **More incarnates revealed! Now the Revolutionary is targeting CP0, where it was the other way around before. Sorry for taking so many chapters to get here, but the Season 1 finale is almost upon us.**

 **While Dragon's faunus heritage was easy to make, I have no idea what kind of faunus to make Sabo. What would fit him?**

 **Please leave votes and reviews for feedback.**


	35. The Date

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 35**

Teams RWBY and JNPR were in the arena with Luffy's makeshift team as they wanted to get in some last minute Haki training before leaving for the city of Vale. They've been working their butts off constantly, and a trip to the city was a break they really needed.

With Zoro here, now they can train two people at a time. It also helps Luffy so he doesn't have to tend to eight people in rapid succession. He may be a stamina freak, but he has limits too.

At the moment, Zoro was attacking a blindfolded Ruby with a training sword he summoned. Luffy, on the other hand, was defending himself against Yang's onslaught. The rest were on the sidelines catching their breath after they had their turns.

"Why is... Haki... so hard?" Jaune panted, yet none of them answered as they were wondering the same thing. Even when he unlocked Conqueror Haki, his control over it still needs a lot of work. It's hard enough to learn how to use it at all.

The test he has to pass involves two volunteers, which were Pyrrha and Luffy. Thankfully, his Conqueror's is not strong enough to really do anything to them. Instead they just feel a tingle in their bodies. Either way, the objective was to make only one person feel that tingle to prove that he can control who he targets.

"Well, there's a plan B." Nora brought up, gaining their attention.

"We put ourselves in a life-threatening situation and let our will to live do the work." Nora suggested, causing them to slump. She's not wrong, but there are far too many risks with that. Then again, that might be the problem. They lack the guts to gamble their life, to challenge the odds.

"Hey guys, I think Ruby is starting to get a grasp on things." Perona interrupts them as she kept her gaze on her cuddle partner. They turn their heads to see the young leader avoid the swordsman's attacks... with ease might they add.

Zoro was beginning to notice too as he did a low swing to trip her, but Ruby hopped over it and kicked off the wooden weapon. He summoned another one to kick things up a notch.

Unlike his match with Blake, Ruby is still keeping up with him, albeit with more difficulty as the attacks were a hair short of hitting. She may be able to see the next attack, but it doesn't make her faster. The chance of dodging still rests within your own ability.

He jumps above her for another attack. The blindfolded girl stood still and turned her head about, trying to feel his presence without her sight.

' **Nitoryu: Maguma** ( _Demon Bear_ )'

Making sure not to utter the technique's name, Zoro plunged down with both training swords aiming down.

Closing in on her, he barely noticed Ruby's brow raised before the redhead rolled forward to avoid the attack. Testing it even further, Zoro launched several flying slashes at her at varying angles. To everyone's surprise, the young leader bobbed and weaved through the barrage.

'So she _is_ using Observation Haki.' he thought to himself. She had to have read his move and know he was above her, as well as predict the flying slashes.

"That's enough." he concluded the exercise, much to Ruby's confusion.

"Huh?" she tilted her head with a quirked brow.

"Have you not noticed that you have been avoiding everything I've thrown at you?" Zoro muttered with a sweatdrop.

"I-I was just so in the zone that I didn't really pay attention to that." Ruby defended. She tries to confirm for herself by recalling the feeling she had when dodging Zoro's attacks. The aura of presence made itself known to her as she focused on where and whose auras they are. She turns to the spectators and points at Ren.

"Ren." she guessed before moving to the next one.

"Weiss." she made another as she pointed at the heiress. Ruby then moves her finger up until it is trained on the floating Perona.

"My cuddle buddy." she quipped, earning a small blush from the ghost girl.

"You didn't have to put like that!" Perona rebuked.

Hearing her voice only brought a wide grin from the girl. She was making accurate guesses, which solidify her use of Haki.

"I finally did it!" Ruby threw her fists in the air in joy. Zoro smirked at her accomplishment before getting serious and slammed both practice swords into her side. The others gaped at the cheap shot as the girl rolled across the ground.

"Ow! What was that for!" Ruby yelled at him, removing the blindfold to give an annoyed look.

"You let your guard down. Observation Haki only works as long as you're focused. The battle may be over, but that's no excuse to lower your guard." Zoro chided her, revealing another flaw behind the Haki type.

It isn't something that is always active once you have it. You have to keep up the concentration without rest. There will be times that you suffer a break in focus, leading to the loss of its benefits.

Ruby nodded at the advice. She got too carried away with her cheering to sense the attack. Zoro is pointing it out the hard way to teach them not to do it in a real fight.

Underneath that stern demeanor lies a hidden kindness.

"So... how's Yang doing?" Ruby switched her attention to her sister. Luffy has remained unharmed throughout the exercise, dodging and blocking the many punches the blonde threw.

Yang was growling in irritation, something that Zoro took noticed. She's not going to be able to unlock like that, not when she's prioritizing her anger. If anything, it's making her movements sloppy.

"Ugh! Dammit!" Yang's fist connected with Luffy's in fury before she stopped to take a break.

"Yang's not having any luck, is she?" Blake pointed the obvious.

"She loses her composure far too easily." Weiss huffed, earning a sharp look from the blonde.

"What was that!?" Yang said in a heated tone, not in the mood to be lectured by the heiress.

"Weiss is right though, Yang." Luffy agreed with crossed arms. Out of the family trio, he would know that she's the one with the short fuse.

"Oh come on!" Yang felt like she was being bombarded from all sides. She sat down to try a calm herself down while Luffy seated himself across from her. Once her anger subsided, Yang decided to get to the root of her problem before trying again.

"So what am I doing wrong?" Yang asked in a demanding tone.

"Getting mad..." Luffy replied as he picked his nose, frustrating the brawler with the vague answer.

"Could you _not_ do that when we're trying to have a serious talk?" Yang sighed in exasperation of his nose-picking habit.

"So why do you get so mad?" Luffy ignored her complaints. Everyone quirked a brow at him, thinking it should've been obvious.

"What are you talking about? She gets mad because you keep countering everything she does." Weiss pointed it out. It was Luffy's turn to be confused.

"That's it? That's a really stupid reason to be mad. You don't unlock Armament Haki by hitting someone or getting mad." he informed. Thinking about now, the others don't recall him ever mentioning any requirements. Doesn't change the fact that futile attacks are either irritating or demoralizing.

"It's not just that..." Yang spoke up, earning their attention. "I just want to unlock it already. I've been at it for two years, and I don't feel any closer." her voice came out soft at the statement. Luffy could only ruffle his hair and sigh, not liking how down she's feeling. Even someone like her can be affected by the lack of progress, especially over the course of two years.

"If you're going to whine, then quit." Zoro cuts in. The others gaped at his harsh words. And they thought Weiss could be ruthless, what with her nickname as Ice Queen.

"There's no point in training you if it takes this much to bring you down. If this keeps up, you may end up last in this race for Haki." his deduction brought a wince to everyone. He takes training very seriously, and he won't help someone when they're going to complain about how hard it is. Training is supposed to be hard because you are trying to go beyond your normal limits.

Yang gritted her teeth in frustration towards herself. She can't really argue against his claim because she knows he's right.

The very thought of falling behind is something she dreads. Already has she felt guilt for dragging her family to what could've been their deaths, especially Luffy's case. He may brush it off by saying that they're alive in the end, but it does nothing to ease her regrets.

All she can do now is to prepare for the next time they're in a life-and-death scenario, to make sure she doesn't build up any more regrets. It hurts to remember the damage she caused to Ruby and Luffy due to her own recklessness.

"...One more time." Yang said as she broke out of her thoughts. Her cousin gave a long stare into her lilac eyes, sensing something different in them.

"Alright." Luffy grinned before hopping back to his feet and dusting himself off.

The two returned to the arena facing each other while the rest sat off to the sidelines. Yang looks to her Ember Celica in deep thought. Much to the audience's shock, she shifted them to their bracelet form and decided to just use her fists. If Armament is based on fighting spirit, then she'll have to get rid of any advantages to make facing adversity that much harder.

"Are you trying to make it harder on yourself?" Luffy wondered. His cousin gave a nod in response, which only brings a grin to his face. If it shocked them that Yang was going in without her weapon, then Luffy coating his arms in Armament blew their minds with how one-sided this is.

The two lunged at each other with fists cocked back. Their knuckles clashed for a moment before Yang skidded back. Her hand throbbed in pain, but she pushed it aside as she charged in again.

Luffy threw a hook when she got close, but Yang raised her arm to block. The blonde goes for an uppercut that Luffy stepped back from. She presses the offensive with hooks and straight punches, all of which were blocked by Luffy's blackened arms.

He leaned his head to the side to dodge a straight before he grabbed her arm and threw her over his shoulder, slamming her back against the ground. Yang lets out a pained gasp and then rolls away to avoid Luffy stomping her into the floor. She got back to her feet and delivered a roundhouse kick which was met with Luffy's own.

Luffy ducked under the punch that followed and nailed her in the gut, launching Yang a few feet off the ground. Her eyes popped wide as she stumbled back while clutching her stomach. She puked up a glob of spit, causing the spectators to shiver at the sight.

Blows to the gut always suck. Despite this, Yang pulled herself together and rushed at Luffy once more.

"Is he trying to destroy her!?" Weiss exclaimed as she watched. This was something more serious than their usual spars. She knows from experience how much it hurts to take blows assisted with Armament. While she may admit that she's no tank by any means, it's still not something you can simply shrug off if you were.

"I think that's what he intends to do. If we keep avoiding Armament out of fear of being harmed, then we won't ever improve our will to fight." Pyrrha reasoned.

"We can't steer away from them forever. One day, we're gonna have to fight someone with Armament whether we like it or not." Ren said. Everyone grimaced at the true statement.

"It's kind of pathetic. Here we are, training to defend the world from darkness only to be worried about ourselves." Blake said. Zoro stood in silence as they realize their contradiction.

They want to learn Haki, yet they fear it when someone else has it.

"Stop being so bitter about it. Now that you realized that, you can change that part of yourself." Zoro said. The two teams sweatdropped at him. One minute he was telling Yang to quit because of her complaining, then he's trying to encourage them the next.

"Why do you have to be such a hardass?" Perona piped in.

"Because he's too embarrassed to show his nice side." Nora made a daring assumption, much to the swordsman's ire. His glare only proved her right. One would have to squint to catch the kindness he shows.

Like when he sticks with Ruby in the halls when no one else is with her. One look from him scares most of the boys from trying anything with her. The rest were just too stupid and got pummeled.

'He has such a big brother complex.' Nora thought.

Back in the arena, Yang gets back onto her shaky feet for the umpteenth time after getting socked in the face by her cousin. Her body was littered with bruises, blood dripped out of her lip and nose, and her breathing was heavy. Her Aura is barely there, yet she still persists. She needs some sort of imagery as an example instead of throwing herself into the fray just to get beat back down. After a bit of thinking, she concluded on the thought of fighting against the world.

This cruel yet beautiful world takes what it wants from the weak-willed, and she has to push it more than it pushes back.

Thrusting herself towards Luffy with that line of thinking, she cocks her fist back in preparation. Luffy tried to stop her with a straight punch, but Yang leaned her head for the fist to graze her cheek. The boy's eyes widen as he sees her fist slowly shift to a metallic black.

"Hey, you got Arma-" Luffy wide grin was blocked out by her fist sinking into his head. He was so proud of her accomplishment that he forgot that she was on her way to punch him. His body was launched away and bounced across the arena, leaving Yang stupefied at what she did. Staring at her fist, she spots the black coating she's all too familiar with.

Blake, for her part, couldn't help but feel a strong sense of deja vu at the sight of Luffy being interrupted by a punch to the face.

"Yes! I got Armament!" Yang cheered with a fist pump, the black coating fading away. The blonde blinked a few times before the something else registered.

"Shit! I unlocked it just as I punched Luffy!" she gripped her head in panic, causing others to facefault. With a power that bypasses his rubber body and his Aura, that punch was bound to hurt him.

"Yow!" Luffy cried out as he covered his face. Now that she can get through his defenses, her punches really hurt now. The strength she carries can actually do something to him.

"S-sorry. I didn't think it would happen right then and there." Yang defended, feeling guilty for the hit. Luffy sat up while everyone joined him. Whatever damage he did sustain would just heal with Aura. Getting over the pain, the former pirate chuckled at her.

"Don't worry about it. I was just so glad to see the Armament that I forgot to dodge." Luffy brushed off, earning some sweatdrops.

Yang mimicked his grin before holding up her fist and imbue it with Armament again as proof... only for it to not work. Looking befuddled, the brawler stared at her fist and concentrated on making it adopt the shiny black tone she saw earlier.

"You've gotta be kidding me! I got it to work before, but it's not working now!" Yang exclaimed in frustration.

The teams had thoughtful looks on what's going wrong this time. Was it just a spur of the moment in the middle of battle? Judging by Luffy's expression, he had this happen before.

"Huh. Guess you only have a chance of it working. I remember when I could get it to appear half the times I tried." Luffy mused. His musings didn't make it any better for his cousin as she deflates.

At least she unlocked it, which is definitely progress. Looking over to Zoro, it made her wonder if he was being hard on her on purpose. What he said really got to her, and she wasn't going to let it be true by accepting it.

"Now that this murderous exercise is over, we can finally go to the city of Vale." Weiss said. She was all too happy to see how the decorations for the Vytal Festival were running along. That and scope out the competition that's supposed to be arriving.

Yang's eyes popped wide at the heiress' words. She almost forgot about the trip to the city, as well as her plans to move things along between her partner and cousin. Seeing the devious smile appear on her face brought a tingle to the red and white duo.

'She's up to something.' they thought in unison. The two had a feeling she's about to proceed with her shipping shenanigans. If that's the case, Ruby needs to think of a punishment for her sister's meddling.

"I have to grab something really quick." Ruby didn't wait for a response as she sped out of the arena and towards her dorm with her semblance. Everyone looked to each other in confusion before they shrugged. They don't know what's gotten into her, but she'll be at the dorms before any of them could even leave the arena.

As soon as they walked through the doors, they were greeted with the sight of a few guys passing by with ghosts tailing them. The men screamed in fright as they sprinted down the halls. Recognizing the ghosts, the group turned to Perona in curiosity.

"What are you looking at me for? They were trying to peep in the women's locker room." she explained herself. Ren and Jaune sweatdropped at this, taking note that it's impossible to get away with such lecherous deeds when those ghosts are all connected to each other.

Not that they were going to try since all the woman around them can crush them, or break their legs in Nora's case.

* * *

The city of Vale is as lively as ever. People dominate the streets and businesses are under siege by customers. It came to no surprise since the kingdom is hosting this year's Vytal Festival.

Before team JNPR set out on their own, Luffy handed Nora a small piece of paper and asked for a favor. Judging by the look, Nora didn't understand what was written on the paper until Luffy explained in her ear. Whatever he said nearly split her face in half with that grin she wore. Giving him a mock salute, Nora took the oversized backpack that Luffy carried his stuff into Beacon with and dragged her team off.

Despite their protests, they wondered what kind of mission Luffy sent her on.

Meanwhile, Ruby and her team had their own shopping to do. Perona decided to stay back at Beacon and wait for them to return. She felt that there was no reason to come along if all she's doing is walking around. Besides, she's having a fun time scaring the perverts all over the campus.

"Okay... so we need ammo, Dust, a variety of herbs, bathroom stuff, cola-" Ruby listed the items they currently need until Weiss interrupted her at the last one.

"Wait! Cola? Why do we need that?" she asked.

"For my beautiful ride, Bumblebee." Yang cuts in with a bit of pride. The black and white duo quirked a brow at this. What does soda have to do with her bike?

"Bumblebee runs on cola." Ruby answered their unasked question, shocking the two. If Luffy was going to make that bike, he may as well include that part along with it. Franky himself functions off of cola and the Thousand Sunny uses it for intense maneuvers such as the Coup de Burst.

"You use soda? As fuel?" Blake wondered incredulously, earning nods. Tickmarks grew on Weiss' head as she grabbed Luffy by the cardigan and pulled him down to her level before shaking him.

"Do you even realize how much lien you can make with that!? Our future energy crisis would be thrown out of the window!" the heiress fumed at the oblivious boy. With vehicles running off of Dust mostly owned by her company, replacing them with cola power would cost the SDC a hefty penny. He fails to see the financial potential that is in his hands right now, and it pisses her off.

Luffy couldn't get a word out through all the shaking. Not like he understood what Weiss is talking about in the first place. The future? Why should that matter to him when there's the present to worry about? He doesn't think so far ahead into the future.

"Would you stop shaking him? Even if he did start a business, wouldn't your father just exploit his stupidity?" Blake inquired as she pried Luffy away from the fuming heiress.

"That's... exactly what he would do." Weiss was about to tell her off for the slander, but muttered an admittance it in the end. Recalling her previous thoughts on how cola power would threaten the SDC, her father would try to manipulate the gullible boy to his benefit. She's not foolish enough to feign ignorance to her father's actions.

"Enough of the business stuff. We got shopping to do." Yang hurried them along. Zoro, who has been quiet the entire time, finally got to speak up.

"So why are you having me carry this backpack around?" he asked.

"Someone has to carry everything we buy." Yang said.

"I'm not a pack mule!" the swordsman shouted with shark teeth, only to earn a snicker from the blonde.

"Awww, what's the matter? Don't tell me your beefy arms can't handle a little weight." Yang goaded as she poked his bicep in a flirty manner. The green haired man growled at her before turning to leave.

He's not going to let this woman mock his strength when she can't even land a hit on Luffy.

"Zoro, the stores are that way." Ruby called out while pointing in another direction. The man went stiff before turning back around with a grouchy look. Yang's grin only grew as she looked over to Luffy and Blake.

"Guess we better get going... while we leave you two on your date! Bye!" Yang went through the second half so fast that the black haired pair didn't register her zipping over to Zoro with Ruby and Weiss in each arm.

The two could only gape at the blonde for leaving the two alone.

"Yang ditched us!" Luffy cried out the obvious. Blake stood silent, thinking about the last bit that her partner said.

She just left them on a self proclaimed date without their say so. Heck, the boy doesn't even realize that this turned into one with how fast she spoke. Granted, this actually works to her advantage seeing as she wanted to talk to Luffy alone. Might as well make use of Yang's meddling while it lasted.

 _*Growl_ *

"Ohhh. I'm so hungry." Luffy groaned as he clutched his stomach.

Then there was the part that they haven't eaten in a while. What better way to start this so called 'date' with lunch.

"Do you know any good places to eat? I'm a little hungry too." Blake said as she fished out her wallet to see where their budget stands. He may not be trusted with money, but the glutton could at least lead them to a decent joint.

While Luffy scrunches his face in deep thought, Blake's eyes nearly popped at how much lien was in her wallet. There was no way she had this much on her. Did Yang sneak in some extra lien to secure their date financially?

Steam would be flowing out of the boy's ears with how much he's thinking. After a solid minute, Luffy exited his thoughts with a grin.

"I take it that means you know a place." Blake smiled at the obvious sign.

"Yep!" was all he said before he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. The hidden faunus stumbled at the sudden pull, but maintained her balance. He's completely forgotten that Yang just ditched them a couple minutes ago.

Blake didn't know what to expect from the glutton, but the noodle bar he was approaching was not one of those expectations. With his black hole of a stomach, she was half expecting an all-you-can-eat buffet. Luffy was giddy with excitement as they took their seats and waited for someone to take their order.

Even though they're paying customers this time, he can't help but remember when he, Sabo, and Ace entered a restaurant disguised as a noble. All so they can have as much ramen as they want.

"Shishishi. It's been a while since I seen the old man." Luffy said more to himself.

"You know the owner?" Blake quirked a brow at her crush.

"Yeah! He also owns a Dust shop. Me and Ruby were there when it was being robbed and we stopped it." Luffy explained.

"So that was how you two skipped ahead two years." Blake surmised, earning a nod.

"Oh? So your the one he's indebted to?" another voice cuts in, gaining both their attention. Luffy's eyes went wide at the familiar man.

Instead of the old man he was expecting, what he sees is another elderly-looking man with blonde hair, a braided mustache, and a beard. He wore a chef's uniform with a blue ascot, an apron, and pants. Much to Blake's surprise, he chef's hat went as high as the ceiling.

"Ehhh! You're not the old man! You're the old geezer!" Luffy shouted with bug eyes.

"What difference does that make?" Blake muttered with a sweatdrop. The old geezer's eye twitched at the insolence before swinging the chef's hat on top of Luffy's head. To her astonishment, the hat made a heavy impact on the boy's head and forced him off his seat.

"That's chef Zeff to you, brat." he corrected. Witnessing the exchange, Blake was able to connect the dots.

'He's an incarnate just like Luffy!' she thought. The two talked as if they already met before, which only proves her explanation. The straw hat teen got back up and pouted at Sanji's father figure.

"Where's the old man?" Luffy asked.

"He's running the Dust shop right now. Problem is that his one other worker would be left alone here. So as a favor, I'm lending a hand to her while keeping scumbags at bay." Zeff explained. His chivalrous side won't let him abandon a young lady running a noodle bar alone with who knows what. She could be robbed, harassed, or even kidnapped.

Luffy crossed his arms as the info sunk in. He never thought the old man would hire workers, given the speed he makes each bowl. It can't really be helped if the old guy has to be at another place. But knowing that Sanji learned everything about cooking from the man in front just guarantees a good meal. Looking over the bar, he stares blankly at the pair of legs until it hit him.

"You don't have a peg anymore." Luffy muttered in shock. Zeff huffed at the observation. He looks to the girl next to him to see her curiosity. Anyone would have caught that and wondered how he got his leg back. Seeing as she took it in stride must mean she knows of the incarnates' existence.

"I'm guessing you know a certain something, don't you lass?" the chef asked, catching Blake off guard.

"Yeah. Luffy gives it away with his big mouth." Blake said.

"Figured as much. Anyway, you guys came to eat. By the way, he offered three of your usual on the house for kicking out the robbers." Zeff mentioned. Luffy salivated at the thought of three huge bowls of meat and noodles.

"He doesn't have to do that. He needs to make money somehow, right?" Blake said.

"Yes, but the brat already saved him some lien. Unless you're willing to pay for each and every bowl." Zeff said as he pointed at the price for what would be Luffy's usual bowl. The girl paled at the numbers. If she didn't have the extra money, she would've been flat broke by the end.

"T-Thank you for your generosity." she immediately switched her tune. Meanwhile, Luffy was busy chanting 'meat' like a child.

Blake rolled her eyes at his obsession for meat before looking at the menu. Combing through the list, her eyes got glued to one particular item. This had to be a dream for her. There was no way that Luffy took her likings into consideration.

Zeff quirked a brow at her staring and lined up her sight to the menu. Turning back to her, he noticed that her cat ears twitched under her bow, cluing him in on what she wants.

He wordlessly walked to the back to prepare their food, leaving to two alone.

Luffy chuckled at Blake's starry eyed expression.

"Told you that you go 'goo goo gah gah'." Luffy joked. Blake broke out of her trance and stared at him with a tinge of red on her cheeks.

"You're just as bad!" she countered. Curiosity won her over as she wanted to learn a bit about the incarnates' previous lives. Each of them have their own story that gave them the experience they brought along to Remnant.

"So what's your story with him?" Blake asked. Luffy raised a brow at the request. He doesn't have much to tell about Zeff, but he may as well tell her what he knows.

"He's the boss of this restaurant that floats on the sea, although I forgot what it was called. Some jerk shot a cannonball at us. When I tried to bounce it back at their ship-" Luffy started the story but was interrupted by a pair of bowls.

"The brat ended up launching it at my restaurant, specifically my quarters. So I made him a chore boy to pay for the damages." Zeff added on.

"And seeing as he's a walking disaster with chores, you wanted him out by throwing him at pirates raiding your ship." Blake summarized the rest, much to their surprise.

"You're a sharp one." Zeff stood impressed.

"Right? She's really smart." Luffy agreed, much to the girl's embarrassment. The two would've forgotten the bowl of noodles if the smell didn't reach their noses. In front of Blake was a ball of noodles in the bowl with whole tunas decorating it. Luffy had a huge bowl as wide as his shoulders with an abundance of toppings, with meat dominating the hill of noodles.

The pair audibly gulped at their food before clapping their hands together.

"Thanks for the food!" they said in unison before grabbing chopsticks and digging in. As per usual, Luffy finished his first bowl before Blake even though his was the size of a punch bowl.

"That's also where I met Sanji." Luffy brought up after slurping up the remaining noodles. Blake could only nod at that. It was pretty obvious when you have a seafaring restaurant. Something else clicked in, though.

"Being a head chef before, you must have a high-end restaurant of your own, right?" Blake wondered.

"You'd be right. But my workers are competent enough to handle it without me for one day. Speaking of, where is that womanizer?" Zeff asked. It took Luffy a few seconds to realize he meant Sanji before staring at his hand, making the chef bond appear on display.

"He's here, but he can't talk to you himself. That doesn't mean I can't tell you that he found the All Blue, like he always dreamed." Luffy said. It may not be Sanji telling him, but hearing that brought a smile to the old chef.

"Is that so..." he mused to himself. Blake was left in confusion as to what they're talking.

"The All Blue?" she questioned in intrigue.

"If you're in the know, then you heard of how our world is shaped, right?" Zeff inquired, earning a nod from the girl.

"Each of the four seas has its unique set of marine life, and the All Blue is the one place where all the seas converge. It's a chef's ultimate paradise with all the fish at their disposal." Zeff informed.

Blake could barely contain her glee at the thought of such a legendary sea. Unfortunately for her, there is no All Blue in Remnant.

"You're so lucky, Luffy!" Blake comically cried in jealousy. Luffy sweatdropped at the normally composed girl. He's never met anyone with an obsession as strong as his love for meat.

The door to the kitchen swung open to reveal a woman carrying Luffy's second serving.

"Here's your second bowl, sir." she caught his attention with the steaming noodles before.

"Thank you." Luffy gave his thanks. When he got a proper look at the lady, his eyes went as wide a dinner plates at the familiar face.

The young woman had dark green hair under the yellow kerchief and brown eyes. Behind the apron, she wore a blouse with black sleeves, a long skirt, and sneakers.

Luffy snapped out of his stupor before the woman returned to the kitchen.

"Oy, Makino!" he called out, startling the three with his outburst. The woman, now recognized as Makino, turned around with shock on her face.

"H-How do you know my name?" she asked with a fearful expression. Luffy was hurt by that. How could one of his mother figures forget about him? She looked like she was staring at a stranger.

"Huh? You don't remember me? It's me, Luffy!" he exclaimed as he slammed his hands on the bar.

"I'm sorry, sir. I don't know anyone named Luffy." Makino's statement only deepened the frown Luffy had. Seeing the exchange, Blake and Zeff looked to each other and silently agreed to get to the bottom of this.

"Luffy, calm down. Are you sure you're not mistaking her for someone else?" Blaked inquired.

"How could I? She lived in Foosha Village with me." Luffy said with certainty. There was no feasible way he could mistake someone for the bartender from his childhood.

Zeff cupped his chin in thought as the teens talked it out. Knowing the boy, he's too honest to make something up.

'I wonder...' he thought as he gave a glance to the woman. He walked up to the woman and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Just relax a bit and tak a few breaths. He doesn't mean any harm, okay." Zeff reassured her. Makino's posture loosened up as she closed her eyes. Seeing his chance, Zeff started to mutter an incantation.

Blake could barely hear it and realized that it's the same words used to unlock a person's Aura. But why is he unlocking the woman's Aura?

Soon enough, the incantation was over and the glowing Aura enveloped Makino for a brief moment. By the time she calmed herself, a headache made itself known as she clutched her head in pain. Memories forced into her head all at once. Memories from a different time.

"Is she okay?" Blake asked in concern.

"Don't worry, it'll pass." Zeff assured. Just as he said that, Makino's pained expression was replaced with soft panting. She slowly opened her eyes and took in the sight of Luffy.

"S-Sorry Luffy. I didn't mean to hurt you." Makino apologized for how she acted earlier. Luffy gained a hopeful look at what she meant.

"Does that mean-"

"Yes, yes. How can I forget the boy who idolized Shanks and dreamed of being a pirate. Don't forget you have food in front of you." Makino cuts him off with a smile. Luffy beamed at her before slurping up the noodles. Seeing the heartwarming reunion brought a smile to Blake. She couldn't bear to see her crush hurting like he was.

"It's just as I thought. Our Aura is the key to our memories." Zeff surmised, getting their attention.

"Our Aura?" Makino repeated in confusion.

"Our souls define who we are. When our first life ended, our souls took a leisure trip to another body in this world. Since Aura is sealed from birth, we would have no recollection of it until the shackles broke." Zeff explained.

Thinking about it now, Blake could confirm it. Makino was the very first case of an incarnate without their Aura unlocked. Everyone before her did, however.

"Isn't Aura meant for huntsmen?" Makino asked, directing it more to Zeff in suspicion.

"Well, I do own a restaurant. Gotta have something to defend it. I only unlocked yours because the brat looked like a kicked puppy." Zeff reasoned, earning a wince from the woman. The crushed look on the fearless man annoyed him to no end. He suppose he couldn't blame the kid though.

Makino accepted the explanation before turning to the teens, specifically Blake. In all her years of mothering Luffy, she never thought Luffy would bring a girl along.

"If you don't mind me asking... are you his girlfriend?" Makino asked. Blake was flabbergasted by the accusation as she tried to will her blush away.

"Nope." Luffy answered for her. Both females turned to him with wide dinner plates.

"You actually know what a girlfriend is?" the two wondered in unison. They had half the mind to assume that Luffy would say that Blake is a girl and a friend. Luffy finished his second bowl and turned to them with an offended look.

"Of course I do! When a boy and a girl kiss a lot, they become boyfriend and girlfriend. At least that's how dad explained it." Luffy said. The wind blew through silence as the two stared in disbelief.

If anyone were to ask Qrow, all they would get from him is that he tried. Words were no use for Luffy, so he opted for a visual approach. Being a teacher at a school filled with young teenagers, there was bound to be moments of intimacy. So when he found a couple making out, he showed his adoptive son the scene and told him that was an example of being a boyfriend or girlfriend.

All Luffy could get is that it involved a lot of kissing.

The two girls can't really say he's wrong. But at the same time, there's a lot more to it than just kissing.

"And sex is that thingy that makes babies." Luffy tacked on, even though he never had to. Blake moved her bowl aside and banged her head against the bar to hide the red in her cheeks, getting a questioning look from the straw hat boy.

"You're truly one of a kind, Luffy." Blake commented, getting a chuckle from him. He's the only one that can keep that childlike purity despite knowing the general gist of sex. He's not even slightly embarrassed upon saying those words.

"He can be quite a handful." Makino said with a sheepish expression. Zeff tries to soothe the headache from the boy's lack of knowledge.

"Can I get my third bowl?" Luffy asked, ignorant to the three's reaction. In an attempt to leave this conversation behind, Zeff returned to the kitchen to fix up the final free bowl.

"What made you think that, anyway?" Blake asked, getting back to Makino's question.

"I'm sorry. It's just that Luffy was never around any girls his age when he lived in Foosha Village. I guess it was mostly his grandfather's doing, though. You seem close to him as well as patient, so that was the first thing that came to mind." Makino explained herself.

"You know, you could've given him the talk." Blake said.

"Really? Because if I recall correctly, he has a short attention span on anything not related to food, fighting, and his dream." Makino shot back. Zeff came back and placed the third serving before the boy in question.

"Fair point..." Blake muttered as Luffy inhaled the noodles.

In the end, Luffy was satisfied with the free bowls. Blake only had to pay for her own. After exchanging goodbye's, the black haired duo walked along the streets with looks of satisfaction.

"I never thought noodles and fish could go so well together." Blake teared up in joy for the discovery while Luffy patted his belly. He was about to think of another place to go to, but thought it better to let the amber eyed girl decide. She never really got to do anything for herself since most decisions fell to Ruby as her leader. If it were him, he'd find it a little infuriating.

"Your turn, Blake! Where should we go?" Luffy spoke up. The hidden faunus was taken off guard by this. She was under the belief that Luffy was still leading.

Putting some thought into it, this is the perfect time to take him to a place and reveal that she's a faunus. As horrible as it is to leave her team out in favor of Luffy, she just feels more secure around the boy. To him, they're just as human as everyone else. While she's sure it's the same with the sisters, Weiss is a bit sketchy. Given that her family has a bad history with the faunus, the heiress may be brought up to have a negative opinion.

Her involvement with the White Fang can wait, that much was certain.

With a clear destination in mind, Blake took point in front of Luffy and started their trek through the city. It was an odd feeling to say the least. She's always been the one following someone else, not the other way around.

The walk was one of comfortable silence as no conversation was initiated. As time passed though, Luffy started to get bored as his gaze shifted around to anything of interest.

"We're almost there, Luffy." Blake assured him after seeing how antsy he was. Turning back to the path in front of her, the hidden faunus wore a small smile at the store she was searching for. Luffy followed her gaze and looked up at the sign that was labeled 'Tukson's Book Trade' in gold letters.

The former pirate chuckled at Blake's love for books. It may not be the most thrilling of places, but he gave the reins to Blake. Maybe the store will have comics to pass the time.

The bell rung as the two entered the bookstore, alerting the owner inside.

The man had clean cut black hair with sideburns and wears a quarter zip shirt colored in burgundy and black.

"Ah, Blake! It's been a while." the man greeted her.

"Hello, Tukson. I've been so busy lately, I couldn't find the time to visit." Blake said. Luffy looked between the two in confusion. If they're calling each other by name, then she must really come here a lot. He puts it off to the side with a shrug and jumps straight to the magazine section, earning a look from Tukson.

"Friend of yours?" he guessed, to which Blake nodded. Hoping that Luffy was too enamored with the comics to hear, Blake made her way to the man to speak in private. Like her, he's also a former White Fang member. But with him being out in the open compared to the safety of a huntsman academy, he can easily be targeted for assassination by the CP9.

"What are you still doing here!? I thought you were leaving for Vacuo!" Blake half shouted, half whispered. Tukson gave a glance to Luffy, who had his nose in one of the comics. From the look of things, the boy has no idea about their past affiliation.

"My life is none of your concerns. Besides, it's not that simple. I would have to close down the store here, reserve a building in Vacuo, and a new apartment. That takes time and money." Tukson defended in a hushed tone. He couldn't just abandon the business. He'll need a stable income after he moves to the desert kingdom, and this bookstore is something he won't just give up.

"Time that you don't have. Once they get around to it, they'll come here and they'll kill you. You know how serious they are about silencing their former members." Blake argued her point.

"You're in the same boat as me, then. Worry about yourself because you're also one of their targets. In fact, you can start by not keeping that guy in the dark. If you were going to bring this up, why did you bring an outsider?" Tukson countered as he gestured to Luffy. If Blake didn't trust Luffy, she would've never brought him here in the first place when they're gonna have this discussion. His fellow faunus seriously needs people that would support her regardless of her membership.

Blake flinched at this. She thought of just telling Luffy that she's a faunus, but now that decision seems inadequate. Why was she so scared of telling a former criminal that she was once part of a terrorist organization? Being scared just proved that she doubted Luffy, which is horribly unfair given that he's very trusting to his friends. She should know by now how he would react.

As for her team... maybe she should only reveal her faunus heritage. Go one step at a time.

The bell to the door chimed as another person entered, but everyone didn't pay him any mind.

Despite his elderly appearance, the man was very well-toned. His hair was white from aging and has a thick beard along with the rest of his facial hair. The attire was simple as he wears a t-shirt, cargo shorts, sandals, and a silver cloak.

Feeling a strong presence nearby, he looks towards the source and smiles at Luffy with his back turned. Luffy must have noticed a powerful aura from him if his stiffened body said anything.

"It's been quite a long time, huh Luffy." the straw hat boy recognized that voice anywhere. His shocked expression soon turned to one of joy before he turned to face the old man.

"Rayleigh!" Luffy exclaimed. This day just keeps getting better with all the familiar faces. First the former owner of the Baratie, the bartender that acted as one of his mother figures, and now his old mentor.

Luffy's elated tone alerted Blake and Tukson of the new arrival, both bewildered by their acquaintance.

'Rayleigh? Where did I hear that before?' Blake thought as she racked her head for any previous mention. After a few seconds, her eyes widen when she recalled their first day of Haki training.

This was the guy that taught Luffy about Haki. The same man that's the right hand man to the Pirate King as well as the one who killed a Sea King in the Calm Belt without a boat.

After hearing those things, she imagined him to be very imposing in appearance. Then again, Luffy isn't imposing at all, and he beats the snot out of all of them.

"So what have you been doing lately?" Rayleigh asked, wanting to catch up with his pupil.

"I'm going to be the freest huntsman! But for that to happen, I need to get a lot stronger." Luffy declared his new dream. His mentor brushed a hand over his beard in amusement for his honesty.

"Is that so? Well, I wish you luck on that. I became an author myself." the former Dark King said. The two faunus broke out of their stupor when he mentioned his occupation.

"You wouldn't happen to be the one that writes pirate stories, would you?" Blake assumed. Considering he was once a pirate, she figured that he would draw inspiration from that.

Seeing how specific her guess was clued Rayleigh in on her knowledge, while Tukson quirked a brow at her.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Although, I don't have a lot of books completed. But I do intend to make it big." he declared. He also needs the public to take notice and read his works, but they're not sold in many stores. Which brings him to Vale, specifically Tukson's store.

Gears slowly turned in Luffy's head for a minute before realization struck him.

"Blake likes to read books! I'm sure she'd like yours." Luffy blurted out with a stupid grin while pointing at Blake. Said girl facepalms at the boy's insistence. Not only that, but she also remembered how much of a loud mouth he is.

Telling him that she was once a White Fang member would lead to him blurting it out to her team on accident.

Rayleigh switches his gaze between the two teens as he discerns their relationship. Blake could only hope he doesn't assume they're a couple like Makino. The thought is nice, but it's not what they are.

"...Is she your sister?" he wondered. The two blinked twice at this before looking at each other.

That was an unexpected guess. They could only chalk it up to their black hair. Other than that, they share no other traits.

"There's no way we could be siblings since I'm an only child. And I don't believe there was ever a time that a human and faunus were related by blood." Blake hinted.

"Mmm, we're friends." Luffy corrected. There was a pregnant pause until Luffy slowly turned to Blake in confusion.

"Human and faunus? What do you mean by that?" he asked, earning a sweatdrop from the girl. Of course Luffy would be so slow.

Blake said nothing as she reached up to her bow. When it came undone, Her cat ears shown themselves for all to see. Luckily the windows were opaque so no one can see from the outside.

Luffy's eyes were instantly glued to the twitching ears on top of her head.

"...You're a faunus?! Why didn't you tell me?!" Luffy shouted with starry eyes. Rayleigh seems to be taking it all in stride, which made Blake feel more at ease.

In fact, she's happy to see the same childish reaction that Luffy had towards Velvet.

Tukson stared at Blake with half lidded eyes. For some reason, he felt that she _knew_ that Luffy was going to adore her cat ears.

"I wanted you to be the first to know. Although, Zoro already figured it out without seeing them." Blake said, gesturing to her cat ears with a twitch.

"Why not tell the others? Ruby and Yang won't mind, and Weiss is our friend." Luffy pointed out with his head tilted. Blake sighs at the mention of her team. Hearing the heiress' name caught Tukson's attention.

"One of you teammates is a Schnee!?" he exclaimed. It now made sense why Blake wanted to keep her heritage hidden.

"You have quite a dilemma." Rayleigh commented, well aware of the bad blood between the faunus and the Schnee family.

Luffy looked at the three in disbelief. With all the time spent together, he would've believed that Weiss will look past Blake's race and still be friends. Yet the others are thinking otherwise.

"But she's nice to Velvet, and she's a faunus!" Luffy argued.

"I wouldn't say that Weiss was 'nice', Luffy. They never even spoke to each other." Blake frowned.

"And so you hide your faunus traits in fear of racial prejudice." the former Dark King deduced, earning a nod from her.

"I enrolled to be a huntress so I can show that faunus can do good. I won't let the White Fang represent every single faunus out there." Blake declared.

Looking to Luffy, the boy looked very confused at her declaration. What was it that didn't make sense to him?

"You wanna show them that faunus are good guys?" Luffy summarized.

"Yes..." Blake couldn't tell where he was going with this.

"So how are they gonna know that when you look human with that bow on?" Luffy asked, surprising Tukson with the loophole he discovered.

Blake opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out as she realized her contradiction. That question struck really close to home. Almost everyone are fooled into believing she's human, with the only ones that know being Zoro and other faunus. How can she prove herself to humans if they see her as their own race.

Her own fear of prejudice caused her intentions as a huntress to backfire.

Blake was starting to breakdown into tears at the flawed logic she had. Unless she reveals her faunus traits, everyone will believe that she's another human huntress among the flock.

She was too conflicted to notice Luffy giving her a gentle hug with a sad expression. He hates to see a friend cry, more so when he's the one caused it.

"Has everything... been in vain? Just because I'm too scared to show the world that I'm a faunus?" Blake asked with choked up sobs.

"No. It's only in vain if you give up. No matter what the world thinks, I'll protect you so you don't have to be scared. Just keep following your dream, okay." Luffy encouraged.

The cat faunus felt her heart skip a beat at what sounded like a promise. He's made no judgement towards her cowardice. Instead, he claimed to be a blanket to ward off the one thing she's hid herself away from.

She returns the embrace in silent thanks for his words. She may not be incredibly strong or courageous as him, but she'll do anything within her power to repay such kindness.

Tukson and Rayleigh stood off to the side as they watched the scene unfold.

"Oh, to be young again." the old man commented. Reminds him of his wife, Shakky.

Luffy decided that he hugged her enough since she calmed down, but Blake was still latched onto him.

"Uh, Blake...you can let go now." he said.

"Huh? Oh!" Blake quickly broke away from him, pink dusting her cheeks. She gave a sharp look to Tukson when he snickered at her embarrassment.

"Since that's over with, I was here to ask if I can have a few books on display." Rayleigh requested from Tukson.

"I don't see a problem with that. My store _is_ home to every book under the sun." Tukson gave his catchphrase.

"Ehhh. So all these books were found outside?" Luffy wondered, causing Tukson's eye to twitch.

"It's a figure of speech, Luffy." Blake sighed at his stupidity.

"Oh."

"Anyway, I do have two books to give to you two. Here." Rayleigh brought out two books as a gift for their reunion. The teens held each book and read the title cover.

"'Tales of the Dark King'?" Luffy's curiosity piqued at the sight of his mentor's epithet.

"'Pirate's Booty'?" Blake quirked a brow at the odd name before seeing the author's name. It wasn't written by Rayleigh himself, but the same man that wrote 'Ninjas of Love'. This work might've been inspired from the pirate-based stories Rayleigh wrote.

Opening the book, Blake skimmed through some random pages to find some raunchy segments. An audible gulp came from her as she closed the book to reveal a bloody nose.

"T-Thank you very much." Blake politely bowed in gratitude, earning a chuckle from Rayleigh.

"Yeah, thanks." Luffy grinned.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do here, the black haired duo left with books in hand and the bow back on her head.

"I know I told you that I'm a faunus and you can't keep a secret to save your life. But please, let me tell them myself." Blake pleaded. Luffy hummed in response. While he would like to tell them, he has to respect that this is very personal to Blake.

"Okay." he complied.

"That's all I could ask for." Blake smiled as a wave of relief washed over her.

* * *

If there was one thing that Weiss and Zoro learned from the shopping trip, it was the full potential of Ruby's cunning. She can have Luffy and Yang wrapped around her little finger if she tried.

The two kept their distance from the cheery girl in fear of that. Walking alongside them was a spaced out Yang. Her eyes looked dead as she muttered something about her 'older sister image'.

Even when they were roped into Yang's meddling, Ruby did not complain. The first time they were cashing in their purchases, Yang decided to be the one paying as she felt like it was her responsibility as an older sister.

When she went to pull out the needed lien, she soon discovered that her money was missing. While she swore up and down that she had more than this, Ruby cuts in and pays in her stead.

Weiss told her partner that she could pay, but Ruby countered with her duty as a leader.

 _"Why did you take my money?" Yang growled at her thieving sister. Ruby turned to her with fake innocence._

 _"What are you talking about? You gave Blake some spending cash for her little date, right?" Ruby played coy with the blonde._

Those two knew what Ruby did after that. That's why she sped off to their dorm.

Yang's day turned into hell as her little sister used her own money to buy the necessities, and in turn, inflicting damage on her pride as the eldest sibling.

Zoro doesn't want to admit, but Ruby is as devious as Nami. It almost made him feel bad for Yang, seeing that her sister knew her weakness.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **It's about time I brought development to Blake and Luffy. I'm surprised that she hasn't really thought of how well she fooled the students with her bow and how it betrayed her goals as a huntress.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	36. Tension

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 36**

Ruby's group decided to take a break as they sat on the bench after their shopping spree. Ruby and Weiss sighed in content as their sore feet can be at ease. Yang plopped herself down with dull eyes and an aura of gloom hanging over her. Zoro's eye twitched as he laid down the backpack he was lugging around along with a few carrying bags from their extra trips.

There just had to be other places to go to after retrieving all of the necessities. He lost count on the number of clothing stores Weiss insisted on going to.

"Phew, what a day..." Ruby said offhandedly as she stretched her arms.

"You're telling me. My legs are exhausted from all that walking." Weiss commented.

"You two didn't carry anything, I don't wanna hear it." Zoro mumbled in a disgruntled tone. They had no right to complain about being tired when they didn't do any lifting.

"Then you suffer with me." Yang voice came out with little emotion. The swordsman spared her a glance. Okay, maybe he's not doing the worst out of the four.

Looking past her, he sees teams JNPR and CFVY heading their way. When he spotted Yatsu, he noticed that he's in the same state as him. The big guy is being used to carry all of the women's purchases like some pack mule. His gaze switched to Jaune, who looked as dead as Yang.

'What happened to him?' he wondered with a sweatdrop.

The red and white pair soon noticed the two teams when Nora's backpack was making noises with each move she makes.

"Hey you guys!" Ruby called out to them. The others returned their greeting as Jaune plopped down next to Yang.

"Hey, Yang. How was your day?" Jaune asked with no enthusiasm found in his voice.

"Hell..." she answered.

"You too, huh?" he said, earning questioning looks from Ruby's group.

"What's wrong with him?" Ruby asked in concern. Ren sighed while Nora suppressed a giggle from the events that lead to Jaune's gloomy demeanor.

"He was being hit on when we went to a clothing store, which is when we ran into Coco's team." Ren replied, getting wide eyed looks.

"Wait, seriously!? Someone actually tried to flirt with him!?" the heiress tone was that of complete disbelief.

No one had missed at what she implied as their half-lidded gazes fell upon her. Seeing it as very rude, Ruby smacked her partner in the back of the head.

"Hey!" the white haired girl whined.

"Leave him alone. There's no need to kick him when he's down." Ruby scolded her.

"But wasn't he always trying to flirt with girls back in Beacon?" Zoro piped in. Even though the flirting reminds him of Sanji, Jaune at least knows when it's a bit much. Granted, he's still aiming for Weiss, so he's still as stubborn.

"I never said it was a girl." Ren added.

"O-oh..." Ruby was too shocked for words.

"I never thought we'd ever meet a transvestite." Nora said offhandedly, shocking them even more. Zoro raised a brow at the girl, wondering if that might've been one of the okama that serve under Ivankov.

Ruby and Weiss turned their attention to the blonde leader as they now understand why he's like this.

"On the bright side, there's someone out there that thinks your cute." Coco attempted to cheer him up, only to get bopped in the head by Pyrrha and Velvet.

"You're not helping!" the two yelled at her.

"What about Yang?" Fox spoke up. He could feel a similar depression from the girl compared to Jaune.

Weiss and Zoro turned their eyes to Ruby, who smiled with innocence and a halo hanging above her head.

"I don't want to talk about it." they said in unison, earning sweatdrops from the others.

"I'm going to assume it has to do something with Luffy and Blake." Velvet guessed, seeing as the two aren't here.

"Yup! She set the two up on a date without their consent. She even provided some spending cash to help them along. Isn't she the sweetest?" Ruby praised with a cheery tone. She wraps her arms around her sister's neck from behind the bench, but got no response from Yang.

"...Mhm." the blonde nodded.

"That doesn't explain her downtrodden look." Yatsu said with a sweatdrop.

"Just let it go. Ero-Blonde will bounce back at some point. More importantly..." Zoro waved off any concerns for Yang before turning to the backpack Nora was carrying.

"What are you carrying?" he inquired as he pointed at the item.

"Oh, nothing. Just some parts." the bubbly girl replied. Everyone stood in thought as they gave her dull eyes.

"...It's for making an oven, isn't it?" the sisters and Zoro guessed, earning a pout from the hammer wielder. The others felt stupid for not thinking that.

This is a glutton they're talking about. Luffy constantly complained about having to go to Beacon's kitchen just to cook. Thanks to Franky, he could just use scrap and make one for himself.

"No fair! How did you guess?" she wondered, a little bummed that it's no longer a surprise.

"Because it's Luffy!" everyone shouted as if it was obvious.

Fox perked up as he felt the black haired duo's presence, turning to where they're coming from.

"Speak of the Devil Fruit eater, and he shall appear." Fox remarked, gaining their attention.

They followed his gaze and saw the two walking side by side. Each were holding a book in one arm, but that wasn't what shocked RWY.

They couldn't hear what Luffy was talking about so animatedly, but whatever it is has Blake _giggling_. She rarely lets out any kind of laughter.

He just brings so much more out of Blake.

'Godammit, Yang. Stop thinking about your suffering and look at what you got out of it.' Yang scolded herself as she comically cried at the scene. Seeing the two look more closer revived her from her depression, just like Zoro said.

For what it's worth, she'll endure any kind of hell in order to hook them up. Her body was literally set ablaze as her resolve rekindled.

"Oh dear, she's really hyped now." Velvet sweatdropped as Yang burned in passionate flames.

"Told you she'll bounce back." Zoro rolled his eyes at the woman. Her behavior portrays her semblance very well. She gets knocked down, but she'll come back stronger than before.

Luffy seems to have noticed the large group as he turned to them and waved. Blake's teammates gave her a curious look as the hidden faunus wore a smile.

"What did you do to get her giggling, Lufes?" Yang inquired with a smirk.

"I was telling her about that high-pitched stone man." Luffy responded, showing a wide grin at the memory. Zoro snorted at the person mentioned. Heads rolled at the swordsman. There was actually something that Zoro found funny.

"That soprano-voiced dumbass?" Zoro grinned in amusement, earning a nod from his captain. The others snorted at the point of reference. That's a higher pitch than Ruby.

"Apparently, he's also bigger than Yatsu." Blake added, holding back on her laughter. She couldn't tell what she was giggling at more. Either the thought of a big guy with a high-pitched voice, or Luffy's miserable attempt a moment ago to mimic the guy.

The group tried to put the two together, but the closest they could imagine was Yatsu with Ruby's voice. They roared with laughter soon after, even though the conclusion they came up with was a tamed version of the truth. Even Jaune was roped in as he forgot his depression for hilarity.

"I-I think we'll die laughing if we saw the actual thing." Yang commented as she attempted to calm down before she deprived herself of air.

"Pfft! He'll kill people by talking at that rate!" Nora put in her two cents.

"D-Don't say something so dark, you two!" Pyrrha chided them as the laughing died down.

Before she could forget, Blake dug into her wallet and pulled out the lien Yang 'loaned'.

"Huh?" her partner raised a brow at the money.

"I'm returning the money you loaned me. We never really used it to begin with." Blake explained. The only thing she ever bought over her time with her crush was the bowl of noodles with tuna. Everything else were on the house due to generosity.

"Uh, right... thanks." Yang said as she took her money back, getting a confused look from her partner. She'd rather leave the memories of her torment behind. It didn't help that the story Ruby woven together was the same thing that Blake concluded. Zoro and Weiss are the only ones other than herself that know the truth.

Meanwhile, Luffy held up the backpack he lent to Nora and felt the weight. He grinned in approval as he trusted Nora to do him a favor by visiting the scrapyard. His wish for a personal oven will finally become reality. Buying the parts or the appliance itself would've been a hassle on someone's wallet, so he opted to just make one with used parts.

"Yay! I knew you could do it, especially with Pyrrha." Luffy praised Nora before giving the bag back to her.

The bubbly girl may be strong, but having a semblance that controls metal simplified the process.

"I can't tell if you pinned your hopes on Nora or Pyrrha." Ren sweatdropped.

"Then again, that Paulie guy was kind enough to help. He at least knew what the parts looked like." Jaune added. Without that blonde haired guy, they would be stuck trying to figure out if they got the right parts or not. They're huntsmen, not mechanics.

"Paulie?" the two former pirates had thoughtful looks at the name, finding it familiar for some reason. The others looked at each other in surprise. If the name was making them think, then Paulie could've been an incarnate.

"Is he someone from your old world?" Velvet asked.

"Hmm... I have no clue." the two said in unison with a shrug. The three teams slumped at their answer, but shelved the topic away for later. It's not like they can remember every single incarnate, so there's still a chance that the guy was from the old world. They'll have to refer to one of Luffy's crew members through the memory bonds.

The large group divided into two, with RWBY and the pirate duo heading towards the docks while the rest head back to Beacon. The black haired duo left their two books in one of the backpack's pouches. Even with the added weight, Zoro doesn't look so bothered. He refuses to complain because it would be the same as admitting defeat to Yang by proving he can't handle the weight.

At least he's not lugging around oven parts like Nora.

"Oh yeah! We met the old geezer, Makino, and Rayleigh!" Luffy exclaimed as they walked down the streets. The two sisters turned to him in surprise while Weiss and Zoro raised a brow.

"You gotta be kidding me! We missed out on meeting your teacher and bartender!?" Yang exclaimed in frustration.

"He could always just draw what they looks like." Weiss rolled her eyes.

"But it's not the same as meeting them in person!" Ruby rebuked as she got up in her partner's face.

"So which old geezer is it?" Zoro ignored the banter as he mentions the unknown person. One would be surprised by how many badass old guys there were in their old world. Even more astonishing when you consider what they were capable of in their prime.

"The guy that owned the sea restaurant where you fought Mihawk the first time." Luffy clarified. The mere mention of the greatest swordsman in Remnant got Weiss' attention.

On the other hand, Yang winced as she recalled Luffy telling them about Zoro's fight with the Warlord. She can't help but wonder if it was by some twist of fate that Zoro got a similar scar on his chest like the one Mihawk gave him.

"Was it true that he sliced a galleon in two!?" Ruby inquired with starry eyes, remembering something entirely different. The black and white duo started to pale at the imagery. A ship of that magnitude... cut in half by a sword. What was the standard in their world?

"As if you didn't believe Luffy when he told you. But yes, he did." Zoro confirmed with a huff.

"Shishishi. He even tried to cut my head off, but he missed and cut the huge wall of ice behind me." Luffy added to the number of Mihawk's feats before laughing. It may have been scary back then, but now he could just laugh it off.

"That's not something to laugh about!" Weiss and Blake comically shouted.

Before they knew it, they saw the docks not too far from them. Decorations for the upcoming Vytal Festival were underway, to which the heiress made note of as she admired the planning it took. None of what she said interested the others since it all sounded so boring as Yang puts it.

"Remind me why we're going to the docks. The whole place reeks of fish. At least Blake doesn't mind it." Ruby said as she pinched her nose shut.

"Ruby, I like to _eat_ fish. The smell is a different story." Blake corrected her leader.

"While the stench will take some getting used to, we're here to welcome our guests from Vacuo. I feel it is our duty to-" Weiss was about to enter a grandiose speech before Yang cuts in.

"Scope out the competition and see what they're packing for the tournament." Yang finished for the heiress with a cheeky grin.

"You have no proof of that!" Weiss quickly denied, leading everyone to believe Yang's statement.

"Ehh! You're going to cheat, Weiss!?" Luffy looked shocked at the thought. He never pegged her for the type to resort to such low measures.

"Cheating is an ugly word, Luffy. I call it reconnaissance." Weiss argued matter-of-factly.

"She's not even denying her intentions anymore." Zoro said with a sweatdrop.

Luffy could only pout at her for using such a big word. It doesn't change the fact that it's technically cheating. Where's the fun in fighting an opponent you know everything about? He can understand if it was the difference between living or dying, but this is a tournament they're talking about. No threats to a person's life, just a competition to enjoy.

While everyone looked at the ship unloading its passengers, Luffy stared off towards the sea in nostalgia. It was the home to all pirates that sailed the seas. Looking out to the horizon reminds him of his previous life when he was aboard the Going Merry or Sunny. He'll miss being a pirate, but now he has a new adventure to look forward to.

"Woah." Ruby broke him out of his trance when she spotted a store that was broken into. Yellow tape barred the way with two cops standing near the entrance as they were investigating the scene. Glass was shattered and the inside looked like a tornado came through.

"Hmm... looks like a robbery." Luffy pointed out the obvious as they approached the store.

"Really? I never would've guessed, Luffy." Weiss had nothing but sarcasm for him.

"Huh? But you're supposed to be the smartest one out of the group." Luffy argued, not understanding the sarcasm. The heiress felt her eye twitch at his stupidity as the rest of the girls giggled.

"You got that right kid. This is the second one this week. Same thing as before, just the Dust was stolen." one of the officers joined in after hearing the boys deduction.

"You mean they had no interest in anything else?" Zoro raised a brow at the robber's handiwork, getting nods from the police.

This was a bit of relief for the Beacon students. That also means that Buggy and his crew are still behind bars, so it has to be someone else.

"So who do you think would need this much Dust? An army?" the other officer joked.

"Maybe the White Fang?" the first officer added his two cents, earning an eye roll from Weiss.

Of course it would be them. They've always had something against the Schnees and they know stealing Dust from their company would enrage her father.

"Maybe we're not getting paid enough." the second complained.

"Huh? What about Girly Man?" Luffy included himself into the conversation.

"Girly Man?" everyone looked at him like he grew another head. Ruby groaned at her cousin for keeping that nickname.

"He means Torchwick. Seriously, why do you call him that?" Ruby wondered. The cops seem to take it in stride before getting back to work, but took the assumption under consideration. They still haven't caught the guy yet after all.

"Cuz I felt like it!" Luffy answered with a goofy grin, earning sighs from them.

In other words, it was just on a whim.

"Either way, they're on the right track if they're accusing the White Fang." Weiss said. This didn't sit well with Blake as the amber eyed girl frowned at the heiress.

"And what do you mean by that?" she asked with a slight edge in her tone.

"I mean that they're degenerates who only know how to steal and kill." Weiss stood strong in her opinion.

"They're a collection of misguided Faunus." Blake defended. Ruby and Yang stood awkwardly as the tension rose between the two while the former pirates stared on with passive expressions.

"Don't humans do the same thing though?" the duo pointed out to Weiss in unison with a tilted head.

"Wha-, you do realize you're supporting a group that made it a goal to wiping out humanity, right!?" she asked the three incredulously. The two pirates gave her a dull look as their question was unanswered.

"We never said we're supporting them." Zoro argued with crossed arms. The destruction of four encampments should be evidence enough, and Luffy made his opinion very clear to them.

Said boy was looking at Blake, confused by her defense. She dreamed of having humans and Faunus coexisting, but she's defending the group that are making her goal that much harder to reach. Shouldn't the White Fang be her enemies?

"Luffy~!"

His train of thought was put on hold by a woman's voice. His eyes went wide as he recognizes its owner.

Everyone looked around for the source until they saw something that made their jaws hit the concrete. The only ones unaffected were the two pirates and Ruby.

A beautiful woman in a purple dress and heels made her way to the fifteen year old and openly embraced him, her enormous rack pressed against his back. While Luffy didn't react to the gorgeous woman hugging him, Blake felt all the alarms go off in her head.

The woman was tall and with what Yang could describe as the perfect bod. A bountiful chest, narrow hips, slender legs, she has it all. She has long black hair that reaches past her waist with strands framing the sides of her face and earrings that resemble snakes.

'What cup size is she!?" Yang and Weiss wondered as they stared at the pillows buried into his back. They were by far the largest they've ever seen. The two wondered why nearly all the girls in Luffy's world have to have a bigger bust than Yang. The heiress felt her jealousy burn after realizing she's the smallest among the five women present.

How can a fifteen year old beat her, anyway!?

Things caught up to the woman before she quickly broke out of the embrace with a bashful look.

'How embarrassing! To do something like that once I see him! I couldn't help but wrap him in my arms after not seeing him for so long.' the woman swooned.

A day never went by where Hancock's thoughts were on a topic other than Luffy. Perhaps she'll listen to the offer that was proposed to her if it meant staying near Luffy. She was going to personally decline it outright, but now it's time to reconsider.

"Hahaha! I missed you too, Hancock." Luffy said. The former Warlord nearly fainted at hearing him say her name right again. She lost count on how many times that happened, but it'll never get old.

"She's like a schoolgirl with a crush." Blake muttered with a sweatdrop, getting a nod from Zoro.

"She's also one of the Warlords like Mihawk and Jimbei." he informed. Blake turned to him in shock at the news. Jimbei was a Warlord before joining Luffy!? This bashful woman is also one!? She can only believe the former since he helped Luffy during the war.

Hancock soon sets her sights on team RWBY, switching between shy to emotionless.

"Who are these girls?" Hancock demanded an answer. Ruby flinched at the hostility in her tone while Weiss and Yang snapped out of their daze.

What was her deal?

"I'm surprised you don't know a Schnee when you see one. Coincidentally, I've heard a bit about the famed Kuja family." Weiss stated. As soon as she heard the name Hancock, Kuja came into her mind since this woman is head of the family.

A family that hails from Mistral that comprise only of women. They live by the motto that strength is beauty, which explains why some members live the double life between model and huntress. It was said that Hancock had a peculiar distrust in men for some reason, as well as a dislike for small animals.

"I see that our beauty precedes us. However, I never bothered to learn more about the family behind the Dust business." Hancock stated coldly as she towered over Weiss. The heiress gritted her teeth at the offensive remark as it sounded like all she learned is that they distribute Dust. She didn't give two shits about their history or their appearance.

It made her feel insignificant to the woman.

"I-I'm Ruby, and this is Yang. We're his cousins. And these are his friends, Weiss and Blake. Oh, and you may have heard of Zoro from Luffy." the redhead took charge of introducing her team along with the swordsman, albeit with a shy expression. She couldn't tell if it was out of intimidation, admiring her beauty, or both.

Hancock was internally relieved to hear that they were just friends and family. She thought the four would be part of some harem. But just in case, she'll have to keep an eye on them despite how sincere the girl is.

"I see. I am Boa Hancock, head of the Kujas and beloved wife to Luffy." Hancock gave a proper introduction, although the last bit wasn't true. The white and black duo choked on air as they heard the second bit. Zoro and Ruby sighed as they know that it's all in her head. Yang tightened her hands into fists as she stares at the threat to her shipping.

Right, how could she forget about the one woman that is dead set on making him her husband. She'll have to protect Blake from her should she believe her partner is pining for him too.

They weren't the only ones to hear the wife bit as all of the bystanders turned to Hancock with wide eyes.

'Wife!' Weiss and Blake exclaimed in their mind. Weiss couldn't believe someone was crazy enough to marry him. Blake, on the other hand, was crushed at the thought of him being taken. The two turned to Luffy to see his dull gaze.

"I never married you." he deadpanned, causing their shock to vanish in an instant. So it was nothing but a delusion from the woman.

"Then will you-"

"No." Luffy rejected her would-be proposal. Hancock didn't take the rejection too hard as that was the usual answer, but the bystanders stood in shock as a guy just turned down the most beautiful woman in their eyes without any second thoughts.

"Are you insane!" all the men exclaimed with bugged out eyes. Luffy looked around to take in the sight of the men's expressions.

"What's wrong with everyone? Why are they being weird?" Luffy remained befuddled by their reactions.

"They do know how much older she is compared to Luffy, right?" Zoro muttered with a sweatdrop. Back in their old world, they were apart by twelve years. Hancock doesn't seem to care about that age difference if she's still persistent with her marriage proposals.

Before Luffy could ask what brought the former Snake Princess to Vale, there was commotion coming from the docks. He dropped the question in favor of his curiosity as he ran back to the docks with Zoro and RWBY in tow.

"Something is going on over there. I'm sure we'll meet again, Hancock. See ya." Luffy waved at the woman, who was in her own daydream about what he implied by saying that.

"You sure she's a Warlord?" Weiss asked for assurance. With how Hancock was switching between emotionless to a shy girl because of Luffy, she couldn't really take her seriously.

"Yeah. She's even has Conqueror's Haki like me." Luffy added. Surprise was written on the girls' faces.

"You never told us that!" Ruby yelled.

"I didn't? Well I never seen her use it, but she does." Luffy said as he cupped his chin.

"You rarely use it yourself." Blake pointed out. She only witnessed the effects of that Haki type twice. One during initiation and the other against team CRDL.

Yang kept quiet as her thoughts remained on Hancock's behavior towards them. She hardly acknowledged their presence except when someone was speaking to her. That cost some points in her book.

The group reach the railing to see a guy avoiding capture from the cops.

The young man stood a little shorter than Zoro with blonde spiky hair, blue eyes, and a tanned muscular physique. He wears a loose-collared white jacket left open to reveal his chest, red wrist bracers over black fingerless gloves, blue cargo pants held up by a white belt, and sneakers in black and yellow. He also has a black chord with a round pendant around his neck and a chain in the right belt loop.

'Is that a monkey tail?' Zoro observed as the now revealed monkey faunus kept running.

"Get back here you no good stowaway!" one of the pursuers ordered. He only laughed at the order before hopping up to a lamppost and hung upside down while peeling a banana.

"Can you really call me that if I never got caught? An awesome stowaway doesn't get captured!" the monkey faunus rebutted with a smug grin.

"He has a point." the former pirates agreed in unison.

"Don't take his side! He's breaking the law!" Weiss reprimanded. The captain and first mate deadpanned at the heiress, causing her to consider who she's talking to.

Right, they broke the law before too.

One of the cops tried to throw a rock at the hanging boy, but he tilted his head to dodge it. He dropped the banana peel on the offender's face before leaping off his perch. Dashing up the steps, he rounded the corner and ran past the group, but not before giving Blake a wink.

The hidden faunus was taken by surprise by the small gesture. It's not everyday that you get targeted for flirting.

Luffy was the only other person to catch the wink and quirked a brow at the action.

"Why did he wink?" he muttered to himself in confusion. Was he trying to use winking as an attack like Ivankov?

Blake was shocked to know someone else noticed the exchange. Out of all people, he had to be that one.

"Our competition is getting away." Yang pointed out in a dry tone.

"Quick! We must catch- I mean observe him!" Weiss ordered.

Everyone nodded before Luffy sped off in the stowaway's direction. Hearing the jingle from Zoro's backpack filled Yang with dread. There was Dust inside and all the jostling could make the volatile substance go boom along with the ammo!

"Zoro, slow down! You're carrying a bag full of fireworks in there!" the blonde warned. Zoro glanced back at the backpack and cursed under his breath before slowing down till there wasn't much noise.

He's thankful for the warning, but now he can't catch up to the group.

Luffy went around the corner and spotted the monkey faunus down the block. He stretched his arms out and got a grip on the sidewalk.

"I got you now, Winking Guy! **Gomu Gomu no Rocket!** " He yelled out with a confident grin before launching himself.

"Winking Guy?" he turned to the voice in confusion for the nickname. Seeing the human bullet heading towards him brought out a comical scream.

An orange haired girl walked out of the alleyway between the two, unaware of what's going on.

"Ahhh! Get out of the way!" Luffy comically yelled, unable to stop himself from crashing into her.

"Hmm? Salu-" the girl couldn't finish her greeting as Luffy slammed head first into her gut, knocking her off her feet and flying past the stowaway.

"Oooh... that's gotta hurt." he winced at the impact before he jumped up to the rooftops and escaped. Ruby and the others arrived at the scene too late, but caught sight of the girl sitting on Luffy.

Now that they got a closer look, they could see her freckles, bright green eyes, and curly orange hair that comes down to her chin. A pink bow rests on the back of her head. Her outfit consists of gray feminine overalls over a blouse in a lighter shade of gray and a black collar to match her stockings. Green lines could be seen on her collar and overalls.

"No! He got away!" Weiss whined, not paying the girl any mind. Muffled noises came from Luffy as he flailed around before pushing the orange haired girl off of him.

"Geez, you're heavy!" Luffy bluntly commented as he patted himself off. For some reason, she has enough weight to squish his head against the concrete.

Yang popped him on the noggin for the insensitive remark.

"Sorry about that. He can be a jerk without trying to." Yang apologized in his stead.

"Why don't you worry about how she shrugged off one of his Rockets." Zoro muttered, noticing how she's in no pain after a head on collision. The girl in question got back up and gave a genuine smile.

"Oh, I'm alright. My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you." she reassured them before she greeted them. They quirked a brow at her joyful demeanor, wondering if she's truly alright after the crash.

"Hehe, sorry about running into you. I'm Luffy." the former captain intoduced himself.

"My name's Ruby."

"I'm Weiss.

"Blake.

"Roronoa Zoro.

"Are you sure you didn't hit the ground too hard?" Yang broke the name chain, earning a pout from Luffy.

Whose the rude one now?

"O-oh, I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Penny repeated herself.

"You already said that." Zoro deadpanned. The girl blinked a few times until she registered that his statement is true.

"...So I did. Anyway, I was just taking in the sights before the Vytal Festival. I can't wait to fight in the tournament." Penny cheered, eager for the event. The group looked at her in bewilderment as she mentioned the tournament.

"You're fighting in the tournament?" Yang said in an incredulous tone.

"I am combat ready." the odd girl emphasized her statement with a salute.

"Forgive me, but you don't look the part." Weiss said.

"Well look at us, Weiss. We're wearing combat skirts, but we're also combat ready." Ruby argued a point.

"Hmm, I suppose you make a valid point for once." Weiss came to agree with her leader. Blake could only sweatdrop at this as she thought that they're wearing dresses.

Luffy chuckled at the thought of peculiar fighters. He and Zoro had their fair share of odd opponents, Pica being one of them. This is just making the wait much more agonizing. Weiss perked up as she almost forgot what they were doing before running into Penny.

"Wait a second, did you happen to see where that riffraff went?" Weiss inquired. Blake clenched her fists in anger for the heiress' wording. She says it like he was some lowlife.

"Who?" Penny tilted her head at the lack of detail.

"The filthy monkey faunus from the boat!" Weiss' words were the last straw for the amber eyed girl.

"Stop it!" Blake's outburst startled the others as she fumed at the heiress. Just like that, their argument from earlier came back with renewed vigor.

Luffy wanted to intervene and stop this stupid argument, but Zoro held out his hand to stop him. He looked up to him to see the swordsman's gaze fall on Ruby, who is just standing beside Yang doing nothing. She has the authority to keep her teammates in line, yet she's letting this play out. However, this is going to cause a rift between the two if she does nothing. Her face shows some uncertainty as she doesn't know what to do.

As much as the captain still wants to help, he knows that Zoro has the better sense in leadership. This is something Ruby needs to learn on her own. As the two began to leave, Yang noticed their movements.

"Where are you going!?" she yelled, hoping they were going to do something about this.

"Back to Beacon. I want to get this off my back, Luffy wants to make that oven, and Perona is still waiting for us. We're not going to wait for those two to stop bickering." Zoro reasoned, jerking a thumb to the two. They're so busy with their argument that they didn't register the pirates' leaving.

"See ya later, Penny!" Luffy waved at the girl. She returned the gesture with as much energy as he had.

Penny can't help but wonder if this was what having a friend is like.

* * *

By the time the shattered moon loomed over Beacon, the pirate duo were carefully lifting the oven Luffy manufactured. It was such a pain in the ass when they had to go up some stairs to reach their floor. Especially Zoro since it felt like he did nothing but lift stuff all day. Luffy grabbed on one end while his first mate had the other and was walking backwards.

Perona was beside the two as she listened to Luffy recount the events of the trip.

"You sure have a knack for running into incarnates. Who would've thought that Rayleigh became an author, or that Hancock was here?" the ghost girl commented.

"Shishishi, I know right! I still need to try reading that book he gave me." Luffy reminded himself, to which Zoro shot him a disbelieving look around the oven. His captain is actually going to read a book of his own volition?

Snapping out of his stupor, the green haired man recalled Luffy telling him about Blake's faunus heritage. Luffy felt no harm in telling him since Blake had mentioned how he knew before him.

"So Blake willingly showed you that she's a faunus?" Zoro wondered, earning a nod from Luffy. Perona doesn't seem to care about this revelation as she just floated around with a bored expression.

She left a ghost in RWBY's dorm room to see how things are going. Unfortunately, the two never stopped bickering.

"Yeah, she has cat ears under that bow. It looks really cool!" Luffy grinned, but he soon frowned as he remembered her argument with Weiss.

"I don't get it, though. She wants to bring humans and faunus together, but she's supporting the White Fang. They're not doing anything that could help with that, so shouldn't they be her enemies?" Luffy asked in confusion. Zoro hummed as he tried to connect the dots and give the captain an answer. His look turned serious at the conclusion he came up with.

"Luffy, she's defending them because she had previous ties to them. It should've been obvious." Zoro shared his thoughts. Perona perked up as her ghost heard an outburst from Blake that made the room go silent.

"What do you mean?" Luffy inquired, not understanding where Zoro was getting at.

"Idiot, I mean that-oof!" Zoro was cut off by something colliding into his backside with a yelp. The two scrambled to get their bearings on the oven before they looked to see what ran into Zoro.

"Blake?" Luffy recognized the girl that fell to the floor. Hearing her name caused her breath to hitch.

She can't bear to face anyone right now. Not after she blurted out her involvement with the White Fang to her teammates. She quickly got back up and ran past the three without saying a word. She didn't get far as ghosts cluttered the escape route she aimed for.

"If you think you can run off without explaining things to us, you got another thing coming." Perona warned, having heard everything.

Blake backed away from the Negative Hollows in fear of what they do. Feeling cornered, she just wants to shrink away and be as small as possible. Footsteps were soon heard, scaring her even more.

The rest of her team caught up to her moments later. Weiss was glaring daggers at Blake while being held back by Yang and Ruby. The two pirates were unable to do much with the oven in their arms, so they tried to get to their room before coming back. There wasn't much space to move around when the appliance took up half the hallway.

"Perona, keep them in place until we get back." Zoro ordered. Not having to be told twice, the pink haired girl brought the entire hall on lockdown with more ghosts. No one was getting in or out of this until things simmered down. She can't let the few friends she has made tear each other apart.

It didn't take too long for Luffy to bring out his scroll and open the door with one hand. After lowering the oven to the floor, the two left the dorm to see the team not move an inch. Neither did the heiress' gaze for that matter.

"So who's gonna start?" Zoro waited for someone to speak up with crossed arms.

"I can start off by revealing that she's a member of the White Fang!" Weiss sneered. Blake didn't say anything to retort as she curled herself into a ball with her legs pulled close to her face.

Luffy's eyes went wide for a brief moment before they settled on Blake. He could understand her previous loyalties to them, but it still baffles him that she defends the people in the way of her dream to this day.

"I just came to that conclusion not too long ago. The question still stands if she is with them or if she left the fold." Zoro stated. He's not picking sides, but he will point out the possibilities. That is unless Blake gets out of her funk and explain everything in detail, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Luffy knelt down to Blake's level and proceeded to stare at her.

"She left them..." Luffy boldly claimed. All eyes were on him at his assumption. A faint glimmer of hope sparked within the girl as she looked over her knees to meet Luffy's gaze.

 _'No matter what the world thinks, I'll protect you so you don't have to be scared.'_

That's right, she still had Luffy to support her. He stayed true to his word.

Seeing tears trickle down her face makes the pirate captain want to punch whoever is responsible for bringing her tears.

"What makes you believe that? She could be a spy for all we know." Weiss reasoned. She was left in confusion when she heard Luffy chuckling as if he was mocking her for seeing the obvious answer that she couldn't.

"Because she's too nice of a person to stay with them." Luffy replied with a smile. Blake has always strived to do what's right. She would've been driven mad if she stayed to their violent ways.

"I'm with Luffy on this. Seriously, I doubt she would harm an innocent life like you say they do." Yang sided with her cousin. She turned to her sister to see if she agrees as well. However, Ruby remained silent.

"Ruby?" Yang was starting to worry about how she's feeling about this.

"...I'm fine with you being in the White Fang. I'm fine with you being a faunus. But... I was hurt when you tried to run away without giving us a chance." Ruby said as she tried to keep herself under control.

Blake adopted a look of shame and guilt as she just realized the effect her actions had. Running away has only proven the lack of faith she had. She just assumed the worst case scenario without giving them the chance to show their reaction. Out of all people to hurt, it had to be the one that's kind to a fault.

"I'm really sorry." Blake softly muttered, too ashamed to face her leader.

Seeing as Blake was taken care of, Ruby turned to the heiress who averted her eyes from everyone with crossed arms.

"We won't need the ghosts anymore, Perona." Ruby assured, sounding emotionally drained. Blake has lost all will to flee while Weiss doesn't seem interested in catching the former White Fang member.

Hesitant at first, Perona looked between the black and white duo. Zoro gave her a nod to gesture that it's alright, trusting the girl's judgement. Perona complied as the ghosts dispersed, the hallway no longer cluttered by the spectral beings.

"Weiss... I know that you can't let go of this grudge, but you could at least work your way to accept her. You lived with the fact that we're next door neighbors to pirates. This shouldn't be too much harder." Ruby said.

Her partner made no immediate response for several seconds before she let out a sigh. Ruby won't be satisfied unless she made another compromise. The only difference is that now she has to work with someone who was once on the enemy's side.

This is another step to being a better teammate.

"I'll try. Don't expect it to happen over night." Weiss relented with no guarantees.

"That's all I could ask for. I'm sure Blake understands that, too." Ruby gave a small smile. Off to the side, Zoro wore a small smirk upon seeing the whole situation being mended.

"Does this satisfy you?" Yang caught his attention. The former Pirate Hunter wiped the smirk off his face in favor of his usual stoic expression.

"It'll do. Weiss is reminded of her position and Blake has been sent on a guilt trip for crossing boundaries that a subordinate shouldn't cross. Ruby is still too soft, though." Zoro mentally graded the young leader.

"But maybe it's for the best. As long as we don't have a fight like the one between Luffy and Usopp." Yang said.

"I suppose... Maybe I can finally sleep." Zoro yawned before heading to the dorm for the night.

"Come on, Ruby. Some cuddling should do some good." Perona lead the petite into the dorm.

"You look eager." Weiss commented as she joined them along with Yang. Perona flinched at the accusation.

"S-She's the one that likes to cuddle." Perona defended herself.

"Yeah, as long as she can breathe in the middle of the 'valleys'." Yang teased, emphasizing her point by poking the ghost girl's chest. Her dear little sister is living every guy's dream.

Perona's flabbergasted reaction brought a small smile to Ruby.

The hall was empty with the exception of the black haired duo.

"Neh, Blake." Luffy called out to her as she pulled herself to her feet.

"Hm?"

"I know I told you that I'd protect you, and I always will. But I can't protect you from yourself." Luffy said. Blake quirked a brow at the weird statement.

"What are you trying to say?" she inquired in confusion.

"I want you to stop lying to yourself. You knew the answer from the start, but you keep avoiding it." Luffy continued to confuse her.

He soon headed for his room, leaving Blake to ponder on his words.

'Why does he have to be so confusing right now?' she thought in exasperation before joing the others in slumber.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **This canon divergence was difficult to write. I hope it turned out alright for you guys.**

 **Please leave reviews for feedback.**


	37. Confrontation

**Hey guys, I'm back from the dead! These past holidays took a lot of my attention away, as well as work.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or RWBY.**

* * *

 **Rebirth of the Straw Hat**

 **Chapter 37**

The next day flew by with nothing but silence around team RWBY. Weiss and Blake have hardly spoken to each other since that night as they're lost in their own thoughts. Ruby went quiet as well, having things on her mind as well.

Which left Yang to mentally scream at the silence. There was nothing she could say after everything that happened. She's their teammate, yet she only has small words of support for them. The blonde was never targeted for her family name, she's not a former terrorist, nor is she a leader.

So she went to the gym to unleash her frustrations upon the punching bags. She wasn't alone, however, as Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Zoro were with her.

The two guys were being pushed beyond their physical limits as Jaune was lifting a barbell with shaky arms while Ren was panting up a storm as he ran the treadmill. Nora wasn't taking any exercises, but instead was looming over them as she tries to encourage them to continue.

Although, 'encourage' might be the wrong term here.

"Come on, guys! I've seen toddlers do better!" the hammer wielder yelled with a crazed grin, causing the two to sweatdrop at her comparison.

"How are you supposed to reach Zoro's level at this rate!?" Nora continued, jerking a thumb to the topless swordsman. The three stopped what they were doing and looked over to Zoro. Jaune's jaw dropped when he saw the green haired man doing practice swings with a barbell that has a lot of weights on one side, all while holding a dumbbell between his teeth.

"It doesn't matter how you look at it! That'll take years!" Jaune comically shouted. Now Nora was just demanding the impossible from them.

Yang couldn't help but have her eyes gravitate over to his muscular torso, noticing how specks of sweat flung off his body with every swing. As appealing to the eye as it is, she's also noticing how fast he is swinging.

"Not satisfied with those weights?" her question came out rhetorical. Even she can see how easy it was for him. But easy doesn't cut it for Zoro. The first mate huffed at the question before laying what she would call a swordbell to the floor and taking the dumbbell out of his mouth.

"Yeah, they're too light for my liking." he complained.

'T-too light?!' Jaune and Ren exchanged looks of disbelief.

Yang smirked at the dilemma before she made her way to a storage closet. Zoro quirked a brow at her as she pulled out some more weights, but with black lines running through them along with a dial on the side. Aside from that, they look about the same as the ones he's using right now.

She sets them into the dumbbell and turns the dial up, causing the lines to glow. The blonde giggles to herself as she steps away to give Zoro some room. He shrugs off her strange behavior before getting a tight grip on the dumbbell. When he tried to lift it off the floor, he was surprised to see that it hardly budged.

He grins in interest of these peculiar weights as he puts in some effort to lift the dumbbell off the floor.

"Now this is more like it." Zoro grunted, pleased with the challenge of even doing one rep. Jaune and Ren were wide eyed at the struggle he's in, wondering how heavy that is exactly.

"Figured as much. Apparently, it has gravity Dust in those weights. You just turn that dial up to ramp up the amount of weight. It's _much_ better than using the baby stuff." Yang explained while ogling his muscles as he carried on with his workout. Nora went starry eyed at the new innovation to weight lifting.

If she works out with that thing, she'll be breaking legs in no time!

Zoro understood the logic behind it. Instead of making a larger weight, they used the gravity Dust to amplify the force of gravity to make it seem heavier than normal. There were probably some safety rules that she failed to mention, but they were self-explanatory.

"Thanks, Ero-Blonde." Zoro raised a hand in gratitude, but it only irked the girl.

Deciding to ignore the nickname, she went back to beating the punching bag. She needs the distraction to keep her frustrations at bay. Try as she might, it keeps coming back.

Zoro was starting to pick up on the lack of vigor in her punches within minutes of her workout, as if her mind was going elsewhere. She's just blowing off steam because of her inability to act. He clicked his teeth in annoyance for her beating herself up over nothing.

"You know, you don't always have to meddle with their problems. Things will sort itself out, so stop feeling like it's necessary to do something for your team." Zoro berated the blonde. Hearing this, Yang spun on her heel to face him with narrowed eyes.

"So, what? I'm supposed to sit back and watch everything happen before my eyes, like every other time!" Yang's voice rose with her anger, her eyes briefly shifting to red.

When Luffy got slashed across the chest by the Beowolf, she did nothing but watch in horror and cry her eyes out as his blood dyed the snow beneath him. When he was fighting the psychotic butcher, she was left suspended in the air by chains with a deep cut on her shoulder.

Worse still, Ruby had to endure it all with her.

Every time she does nothing, something horrible happens. Luck was the only reason that things turned out for the better. But how much longer can that luck last?

She hasn't realized what she implied until Nora spoke up.

"What do you mean by 'every other time'?" Nora asked in a concerned tone. Jaune and Zoro were left surprised by the bubbly girl's display of concern. It's really rare for her to ever show anything other than her uplifting attitude.

When the brawler shuts herself up and turns away from them, it only made them worry more. It must be a very sensitive topic if someone as boisterous as her is staying quiet.

The silence was cut short by the ringing of Yang's scroll. Seeing this as the perfect time to divert the worrying stares, the blonde brawler checks her device. She quirked a brow when she spotted a message sent by Ruby.

 _"Team meeting. Right now."_ was what the message said. Yang was perplexed by the sudden command from her sister. Either way, she turned to leave the gym, earning confused looks from the others in the room.

"See ya, guys." she waved as she went through the doors.

'Must've been Ruby.' Zoro concluded as he kept lifting the gravity empowered dumbbell. After some time passed, the swordsman slowed to a halt when he felt like taking a nap.

As soon as he placed the dumbbell on the floor, Nora swooped in to take it for a spin. Ignoring her quick reaction, Zoro grabbed his jacket before heading for the door.

"Don't get lost, Zoro!" Nora beamed at him, earning an eye twitch.

"Shut up. I don't get lost." he muttered in annoyance. The three could only sweatdrop as he walked out the door.

Now that the two were away, team JNR were left to their thoughts. Yang's sudden outburst left an uneasy feeling in them, and seeing her erect a barrier between them only amplified the feeling. This whole situation is really getting to team RWBY.

"So are we going to help?" Ren asked his leader. Jaune looked down to the floor in thought before he released a dejected sigh.

"No. As much as I want to help, they need to see this through as a team." Jaune reasoned. He can't involve himself when they need to grow on their own. Doing so would just prove that Ruby is incompetent as a leader. He may have been helped before, but the problem at the time was him. This is something between her teammates, therefore making it her responsibility.

It's probably the same reason why Luffy hasn't involved himself.

"Well then, if we're not doing anything..." Nora trailed off with a sinister gleem, making the boys audibly gulp in fear. Pyrrha is so lucky that she's organizing a tutoring session for Jaune right now.

* * *

Luffy grinned from ear to ear as he stared at the kitchen corner he's so proud of. One side of the room contained the two beds that the pirate duo slept in as well as the desk. The other side had the fridge and oven side by side with a small table and chairs. He may not have a lot of books, but the bookshelf serves its purpose by holding some spices and sugar for cooking along with other supplies.

After trying it out for the first time, he forgot to open the window for the steam to be aired out of the room. It almost looked like a sauna with the lingering steam near the ceiling.

He's elated to see the room he made for him and Zoro now that it looked more livable. There can still be more improvements over the course of his four years, but it'll take time and money. For now, he's just happy to cook in his own dorm instead of moving to the student kitchen on the other side of Beacon.

When he wants to eat, he wants the food right at that moment. Unfortunately, he has to go to the student kitchen anyway if he needs to wash dishes.

"Yosh! Now Ruby won't have to go so far for cookies. I could even cook meat and fish right now." Luffy beamed at the convenience. The mere mention of Blake's obsession brought his smile down.

Twice in one day has Blake been brought to tears. The first for realizing her flawed logic, the second for being discovered as a former terrorist. His clenched fist shook with anger as he contemplated on who was mostly responsible. Being restrained from mending the team does nothing to quell his fury.

When he has an idea as to who to punch, that person is going down. It's what most of his solutions involve: burying his fist into the problem and hope that it never comes back up.

He was shook from his thoughts by a knock on the door. When he got to the door and opened it, he was surprised to see Glynda with a scowl.

"Witch? Am I in trouble again?" he wondered. She sweatdropped at the assumption. It's amazing how he came to that conclusion as soon as he saw her.

Then again, the only thing she does to him is scold and berate.

"I've been hearing talk about smoke coming out of a window in the dormitory. You were my first suspect." Glynda stated before shifting her gaze to the oven. Seeing the appliance only proves her suspicions.

Luffy followed her gaze until it met the oven before turning back to her with a grin.

"Shishishi, I made that so I can cook here. But I had to open the window to let the steam out when I tried it." he explained. Hearing that it was steam instead of smoke relieved the professor somewhat now that she knows that there is no fire.

It still has its own dangers, but she can at least trust him not to burn the whole place down. If she brings it up to Ozpin, he'll just comment on the boy's resourcefulness.

"Witch..." Luffy tilted his head in confusion of her silence.

"You're not in trouble, Mr. Branwen. And as long as there are no fires, there won't be any problems. Are we clear?" Glynda said with a sharp look.

"Yup!" Luffy gave a mock salute, thankful that she's being lenient with him. The gesture was enough for the woman as she turned to leave.

"Wait..." Luffy called out before she can take a step from the doorway. She turned her head to make eye contact, curious as to what he'll say. For once, his eyes speak of something serious.

"What do you think of the White Fang?" he asked with the innocence of a curious child. The question caught her off guard as it took seconds to respond.

Of all things to ask, he just wants her opinion on the terrorist organization. But why? Did it have something to do with the reveal of Cipher Pol working with them? Foreseeing a long discussion, she decided to get comfortable in his dorm and sat in one of the chairs before she answered.

"If I had to describe them, I'd say that they're a group that fell from grace. Surely you know that they were once peaceful?" Glynda reminded, clinging onto some hope that Luffy paid attention to that part of history.

"Of course I know." Luffy growled, almost offended by her words.

"I used to watch their rallies on TV when I was little. People say that they were wasting their time, that they weren't going to gain equality. But they kept going, even if it was going to take years. The old White Fang reminded me of myself. It wasn't about whether or not it was possible, just that it was what we staked our lives for." Luffy said. Glynda was intrigued by the comparison he made between the two.

The two tried to attain something that was thought to be unreachable by many. Yet Luffy proved the world wrong by overcoming every obstacle before him. Maybe he believed that the same could be done with the White Fang.

This only made it easy to guess why he stopped watching.

"So you stopped watching their rallies because you were disappointed in their change in methods, or perhaps insulted that they didn't commit to their original path like you have." Glynda surmised, earning a nod from the boy.

"It was like they left their old conviction behind. They changed their minds and decided on a different goal. A goal that other faunus don't want, yet are forced to accept." Luffy stated, his fists tightening at the thought. He was starting to see Blake as a person that couldn't adhere to their violence any longer.

She left them to stick to the peaceful ways they had before and walk her own path. However, the White Fang's actions has brought so much trouble for the other faunus that some would hide their heritage away.

They have not only hindered Blake's progress, but left her trapped with no way out. She suffered because of them. Looks like he figured out who to beat. This White Fang has to go if the faunus ever want to taste freedom and equality like Blake wanted.

"I dread that look in your eyes. It promises nothing but trouble." he would've forgotten that Glynda was sitting across from him if she hadn't spoken. Meeting her gaze with an inquisitive look, he wonders if the professor was going to stop him.

"But... I suppose I'll indulge myself with this gamble and hope the results are worth the trouble." Glynda relented, earning a goofy grin from Luffy. It wasn't like she could stop him anyway. He had the look in his eye that said that he made up his mind and he's not budging. Much to her confusion, Luffy chuckled at her. Was it really funny that she's encouraging Luffy to do as he pleases?

...On second thought, everyone would see it as a joke.

"Ozzy is rubbing off on you." Luffy stated with amusement. Despite her eye twitching, Glynda couldn't help but agree with him. Ozpin's leniency has gotten him in trouble with the Council on occasion. He would bend the rules and shrug off the trouble caused because of his gambles.

Seeing as both have somewhere to be, they left the dorm at the same time. As they did, Yang was heading towards them. The blonde looks between the two with wide eyes, seeing something wrong with this picture. No words came to her as the two walked past her, her gaze never leaving them. They're walking side by side, but there were no signs of it looking like Luffy was in any trouble. It was usually the case when those two are within feet of each other.

Shaking off the weird sight before her, she enters her dorm to take in the silent atmosphere. The only noise in the room was from Ruby, who is currently loading each magazine with individual cartridges. Her eyes fell onto the symbols on the magazines that indicated the type of Dust it's loaded with. Her sister looked to be in deep thought as she subconsciously slid each round in. It was Ruby's way to get her mind off things.

Blake and Weiss were laying on their respective beds, no doubt thinking about that night. The cat faunus isn't even reading a book, probably since she wouldn't be able to focus on reading. It was like the two were grounded or put in a timeout corner.

Perona is nowhere to be seen along with her ghosts as she is most likely busy. Since no one was going to speak, then she'll just have to make her presence known.

"Yeesh, Rubes. You look like you're geared for war." Yang broke the silence with a joke as she took note on the many magazines filled with ammo near her sister. The black and white duo turned their attention to the other half of the team since their thoughts were interrupted. Their eyes turned to silver dollars when they spotted the stockpile, wondering if they were spaced out for so long.

"Huh?" Ruby snapped out of her trance and looked up to her sister. Looking to her side, she sees the growing pile of munitions before rubbing her head sheepishly.

'Oops. I think I've overdone it.' she thought to herself. Now that all eyes are on her, she scrambled for an explanation for this preparation.

"Right, uhh... on with the team meeting! We're going to Vale!" Ruby declared as she hopped to her feet with her hands on her hips.

"Ruby, we just went to Vale. What reason do we have this time?" Weiss inquired. She could've sworn that they did all the shopping that they needed to do.

"Glad you asked, partner. There's no shopping this time, but we are going to do some crime fighting." Ruby explained. It didn't take too long to guess what she's referring to.

"So we're going after the Dust robbers? I thought we were going to leave that to the cops." Yang said.

"We were before that fight happened. Now I want to find out who's robbing the stores for some closure. In the end, we're still going to beat them up." Ruby stated. It didn't matter whether it was Torchwick or the White Fang, this investigation was going to lead to a fight.

Thinking on it now, the whole argument started when their curiosity brought them to the Dust store.

"Closure?" Blake raised a brow at her leader.

"I don't want to keep thinking about it, so I thought that if we did this we can move on." Ruby explained. Yang grinned at the direct approach. It sounded like something Luffy would do.

Speaking of which...

"Should we bring Luffy and Zoro along?" Yang suggested. To her surprise, her sister shook her head.

"No. This whole thing started with my team, and I want to keep it that way." Ruby reasoned with a soft tone. There's no point in dragging them into something that has nothing to do with them, even if they would agree to come.

"Oh, right..." Ruby perked up as she remembered something before turning to Blake. The cat faunus couldn't make eye contact with her leader, still ashamed from that night.

The silver eyed girl was willing to accept her, despite knowing that she's a former terrorist as well as a faunus. Instead of responding in kind, she slapped her hand away and rejected her sincerity.

"Can I read this book? I found it with your stuff while I was uhh... tidying up our dorm." Ruby asked, covering up how she happened upon it. She doesn't know how Blake would take to her snooping around to find her wallet as well as her sister's. This wasn't missed by the other two members as they stared at her with half-lidded eyes.

Said girl had no choice but to see what book her leader is talking about. She paled at the sight of her 'Ninjas of Love' book held out in front of her with Ruby's innocent eyes looking over it. Weiss and Yang stood off to the side as they watched things play out.

'She better not destroy her innocence so soon. That's my job when Rubes hits sixteen!' Yang thought. She'd be foolish in thinking Ruby would retain her innocence her entire life. If anyone is going to destroy it, it'll be her big sister. She won't mind Luffy losing his because he really needs it with how long he's lived altogether.

"No! Nononono, you cannot read that right now! Maybe when you're older, but not _now_." Blake was sweating bullets as she tried to dissuade the girl from reading such a dirty book. Ruby tilted her head with proverbial question marks, curious about her defensive behavior.

When she looked at the cover, she finally noticed the age rating. Okay, definitely not old enough to delve into its contents. Then again, neither is Blake. Despite giving her faunus teammate a skeptical eye, Ruby placed the book off to the side.

'I get to live another day!' Blake mentally cried in joy while letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Even if Weiss may look at her with disappointment, the raven haired girl won't have to worry about her partner's fist having a sleepover in her skull.

"Pervert." Weiss muttered under her breath. To think that this calm and collected person was secretly a pervert.

With a goal in mind, they left their room to prepare for the inevitable fight with robbers. As they passed by Luffy's room, Yang gave the door a glance as she contemplated on something. If it ends up being the White Fang, there's also a chance that CP9 are involved.

From what Luffy told them, they are people to be taken seriously. She'll need to be as serious as well, but the measures to do so are something neither Ruby nor Luffy would like.

"You guys go on ahead! Forgot to grab something!" Yang called out to them. The three looked to each other and shrugged their shoulders before leaving. Once she knows that the coast is clear, the brawler swiftly entered her cousin's dorm and combed through his belongings. She found what she was looking for in the form of an antique box.

Yang opened it to reveal no more than three orbs of deep violet color. They looked to be the same size as the medicinal spheres that amplify Aura's healing factor. This is the culmination of Luffy's research with Chopper's bond over the course of a year. When Luffy tested it, they discovered its extremely potent effect... with an aftereffect that is equally as devastating.

She puts the dangerous drug in her side bag, making a mental note that it is a last resort.

"Sorry Lufes. I'm going to need this for what we're throwing ourselves into." Yang reasoned with a soft mutter. With that out of the way, she leaves to regroup with her team.

* * *

"So much for taking a nap." Zoro grumbled. He was so close to taking a nap under the tree's shade, but Luffy had to stop him. Although, the swordsman can let it slide since his captain is geared up for a fight. Soul Solid rests on the boy's back while Black Kabuto and Climatact are on his waist.

Kind of strange when Zoro happens to find their camps without trying to. Now he's actively hunting the White Fang. Whatever Luffy's reasons are, he won't question them. He's not taking part in bringing team RWBY back together, but he's still trying to help out in his own way.

Speaking of the boy, he's climbing onboard the aircraft that will take them to Vale. His eyes were shadowed by his hat, but the swordsman can tell he is serious. While both got on, the aircraft was waiting for its scheduled takeoff.

"So how are you going to find them?" Zoro felt like he should ask, causing Luffy to perk up at the question. He tilted his head and put his brain to use, an action that caused steam to leak out of his ears. A proverbial light bulb lit up as he straightened his head.

"By finding a lot of Dust!" Luffy beamed, earning a facepalm from Zoro for all the holes in his plan.

"You really didn't think this through, you idiot. There's no guarantee that they are the robbers. Even if they were, there are plenty of Dust stores left in Vale." Zoro pointed out the flaws to his captain. They don't have the time and patience to scope out all the shops with just the two of them.

"Then we'll find the store with the most Dust." was Luffy's next argument, but it does nothing to solve their predicament. The first mate could only sigh in exasperation of the boy's stupidity. It's times like this that make him miss the rest of the crew. They would plan their next move while taking Luffy's headstrong attitude into account.

The time for takeoff was nigh. However, multiple footsteps caught their attention before the aircraft took off for Vale. When the two pirates looked at the new arrivals, they were surprised to see team RWBY next to them. The four girls looked just as surprised as they held an awkward staring contest.

"...What are you doing here?" both sides asked in unison.

"Going to Vale." both sides answered each other at the same time. Zoro grew tickmarks on his head as this continued.

"One person at a time, dammit!" Zoro growled out. When RWBY realized that the pirates were wondering what they're up to, most of them scrambled for an excuse. They didn't want the duo to join in on something that they intend to resolve as a team.

"We forgot to shop somewhere." Yang came to their rescue with her cover story.

"Yet you bring your weapons?" Zoro raised a brow in suspicion as he noticed that they're armed.

"We can say the same for you two." Blake shot back with a deadpanned stare. Luffy ignored the two as he pouted at Yang.

"Why didn't you invite us?" he wondered, upset that he was going to be left out. The blonde brawler rolled her eyes at him as she rested an arm on his shoulder.

"For one thing, Blake wasn't with us. Plus, it's not a place we want to bring _guys_ to." she hinted while she nudged him. Gears turned in his head as he pondered on what she meant.

"...Oh. You're going to Brook's paradise." Luffy finally figured out, albeit with a dull look. Yang gave him a cheery nod while the other girls blushed a little. Considering what the skeleton is into, calling it that sounds fitting.

It's by far one of the most boring places he's been in. It's not that being surrounded by lingerie makes him uncomfortable or anything. He just doesn't see much of a point in staying in a store that caters to women.

"Tch, whatever." Zoro grunted, not wanting to hear anymore of it. If they're not going to tell them the real reason, then he might as well not bother with it anymore.

With the two incarnates no longer interested, the girls sighed in relief. However, they doubt that Zoro believes them as much as his captain.

"You haven't told us where you were going." Weiss realized. Luffy, who is still upset about being left out, sulks at her.

"We're going somewhere that girls wouldn't go to." he said with a grumpy expression, much to the ladies' surprise.

Is he really gonna hold a grudge over this. Then again, he was ditched with Blake before this. He doesn't have a problem with her as far as they could tell, but he just likes to enjoy things with the entire group instead of one person. Now they're doing it again, this time to keep him out of their problem.

The two groups went their separate ways upon landing.

"You think it's okay to leave it like that?" Blake wondered as she kept her eyes on her crush, who is still pouting like a child.

"Pfft, as if he'd stay mad over something so small. He'll get over it." Yang waved her hand dismissively.

"In any case, do you know how to find them?" Weiss moved along to the main reason for coming hereby asking her partner. Ruby froze in place and started to sweat bullets at the question. Seeing this made Weiss uneasy.

"You... do have a plan, right?" she asked again. The young leader slowly turned her head to her team, her face caked in sweat.

"I figured you guys would have an idea." she said. Everyone stood stock-still as a tumbleweed bounced across the street.

"You... dolt." Weiss muttered as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Ruby could only chuckle sheepishly at her teammates.

*growl*

The fifteen year old blushed at the noise her stomach is making. As if hunting robbers without a lead wasn't embarrassing enough.

"Lets go grab some grub. Can't fight bad guys on an empty stomach." Yang suggested, to which everyone agreed. They found a fast food joint not too far from them and made their orders before taking their seats. Weiss wasn't interested in the greasy food the place offered, so her meal was pretty light. This just leaves her with more time to muse.

As her team eat their food, the heiress took notice of a lone dog faunus sitting on his own. When another group of customers tried to look for an empty booth, all it took was one look at the faunus to convince them to look for a booth further away from him. Like they can't trust him enough to be close. She would've thought that it was unfair if it hadn't been for the fact that she's done the same thing.

Now that she thought about it, the people that try to get on her good side back home have the same set of eyes. Eyes that don't acknowledge someone's entire identity. They look at her and only see 'Schnee'. They look at the lone faunus before her, and all they acknowledge is 'faunus'. It's that sort of ignorance that lead to her being targeted for assassination when she hasn't done anything to them personally. The same could be said with the faunus not associated with the White Fang.

She recalls how much she hated being stared at with such an ignorant gaze, yet she does it to people who probably hate it as much as she did. Whether by hollow praise or scorn, both sides go through the same struggle. They live with a label that describes someone else rather than themselves.

'What a contradiction I lived.' Weiss concluded her thoughts with bitter humor. She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice the hand waving in front of her.

"Hey, Ice Queen! You okay?" Yang asked as her hand kept passing by her vision. The heiress turned to her team to see everyone's eyes on her. There was no longer any food left on the trays, as evident to the wrappers with bits of cheese. How long it's been that way continues to elude her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just lost in thought." Weiss said.

"Well, okay. We all talked about our next move and thought about staking out any Dust stores that haven't been hit yet. What do you think?" Ruby asked, wanting to see how her partner thinks of the idea.

"It's a simple plan, that's for sure. The problem is that there are too many shops left. We're not going to leave things to chance. Besides, news of the robberies most likely reached those stores by now, so they would've tightened their security. If the White Fang are smart enough-" Weiss cupped her chin in thought as she stated the flaws, only to be interrupted by Blake.

"You still think that they did it!?" she growled in disapproval. The two got into each other's faces as they entered a heated argument. From the sister's perspective, it looks like Weiss is trying to be realistic compared to last time. Before now, it was more of a biased opinion.

"Yes, I do. They are an organized group thanks to Cipher Pol and have the manpower to pull off these heists without being caught or exposed by the authorities. Roman may be a master thief, but there's no way that he can muster the numbers to efficiently steal this much Dust without so much as being spotted." Weiss listed off her reasons that support her claim.

Her words left Blake at a loss as to how to rebuke her claim. She's not even mentioning that they're faunus, just what they're capable of.

"If you are so certain that they're not the culprits, then who am I to argue against someone that was once among their numbers. Or have you not bothered to look back on your last moments with them and thought that this is something that they'd aim for as of now?" Weiss' point caused Blake to stiffen.

When she recalled her last moments, her last mission, all she could see was the train heist she took part in with Adam. The main thing they were after was its shipment of Dust, and it was by no means a meager amount based on how much was in a single crate. What are the odds that their demand for Dust grew while she was away.

 _"You knew the answer from the start, but you keep avoiding it."_

Luffy's words rung in her head, this time it was becoming clear to her. He was always able to read her like an open book. The cat faunus stares down at her lap with a sad expression. Seeing this brought a frown to the others as well.

"Blake... you had a feeling it was them, didn't you?" Ruby asked softly, earning a sad nod from the raven haired girl.

"Then why defend them?" Yang took her turn to ask.

"Wouldn't you defend your family if someone was talking bad about them, even if you know it's true?" Blake countered while looking straight into the blonde's lilac eyes. Brief silence was met after the question until Weiss let out a sigh.

"I guess I can't fault you for defending them then. I'd do the same thing if people said things about my father." Weiss admitted. Her father may be driving her family's reputation through the mud, but a little part of her would still defend him because he's family.

The cat faunus gave her an appreciative smile for her understanding. For once, they have something in common. It's a decent starting point to getting along with each other.

"Even if we never had that fight, you guys still would've known that I was a faunus at least. Just thought that you should know." Blake brought up while rubbing her arm. Luffy's support convinced her that things will work out with just her faunus heritage. Too bad it didn't turn out the way she wanted.

"Aww, we love you too, Blakey!" Yang glomped her partner, happy to know that Blake was going to trust them back then. The amber eyed girl groaned at the close contact, internally wishing it was Luffy initiating the hug.

They left the restaurant after realizing how long they stayed. While things may be looking up as Blake and Weiss have some common ground, Ruby is still worried for the cat faunus. It's gonna be hard on her if she has to fight people she saw as family.

"Hey, Blake. If you don't feel up to fighting the White Fang, then I'll understand. I mean, they used to be your-" Ruby was cut off when Blake placed her hands on the leader's shoulders.

"Ruby. Thank you for considering my feelings, but I have to do this. I followed you here knowing that I might fight them. I cannot run from this any longer." Blake reassured her with resolute eyes. Ruby could only smile at her for trying to see this through to the end, feeling a bit of resolve.

'Besides, if they are really doing this, then that's proof enough that they changed for the worse. All the more reason to stop them.' Blake thought to herself.

Yang was happy to see the team coming back together, evident in the grin she has on her face. She looks on ahead to see a crowd gathering. Curiosity getting the better of her, she walks up to the crowd tries to peer over their shoulders to see what is going on. Her team soon followed once they noticed her disappearance.

"What's going on, Yang!?" Ruby yelled over the loud noises. She couldn't see what's happening since she's too short to see anything.

"It looks like a eating contest." Yang answered as she took note of the long row of tables with contestants chowing down as fast as they could. Blake's cat ears perked up at this and joined her partner, searching for someone in particular. Meanwhile, Weiss scoffs in disgust.

"What kind of food is it?" Ruby asked while jumping to catch short glimpse over her sister's shoulder. Eating contests typically choose only one kind of food for the competition. It could be something small like a hotdog, or something large like whole turkeys.

"It looks like steak." Yang answered.

"I don't see what is so appealing about watching others gorge themselves with food until they either pass out or puke." Weiss commented. As if to prove her point, a loud thud was heard as a contestant fell to the floor with a dazed look.

"Oooh, it looks like we have another one out for the count, folks." they heard the announcer comment. The entire thing had Yang giggling.

"I can see Luffy being a part of this." Yang muttered.

"He is." Blake noted as she pointed at the familiar straw hat, making Yang's jaw drop. The two spotted the straw hat boy as he practically inhaled each steak as it was given, leaving stacks of plates in his wake. He did say that he's going somewhere that girls wouldn't be. They weren't the only ones watching as some of the audience also took notice of the glutton.

"How is that kid still standing! He should've been bloated by now!" one of them shouted incredulously. Now Ruby had to see for herself after hearing that. She found a wooden stool and moved it in between her two taller teammates before standing on it. She could only squeal as she saw Luffy competing against everyone.

"Come on, Luffy! You can't lose when it comes to food, especially meat!" Ruby cheered him on, earning sweatdrops from her team for the valid argument. Whether or not he heard her remains to be seen. Blake mentally agreed with her leader as she waved a small flag with the words 'Go Luffy!' in big bold letters, not even questioned as to where she got the flag from.

The heiress rolled her eyes at the three and wondered where Zoro is in all of this. When she didn't see any signs of green hair, she could think of one possibility.

"How typical that he wound up lost." she mumbled in exasperation.

Elsewhere, Zoro walked into a dead end in an alleyway. He clicked his teeth in annoyance as some thugs waltzed up behind him with cocky grins.

"You picked the wrong place to be." one of the thugs commented while pulling a knife out. What he got in response was the swordsman's menacing glare that promised nothing but pain.

"Really? I think I should be telling you that." he said as his thumb flicked the sword out of its sheath a bit. The soon-to-be victims felt a shiver down their spines as he strolled up to the exit they're blocking.

Back at the eating contest, the number of contestants were dwindling fast. The girls didn't see any harm in sticking around until the winner was announced. Even if Luffy spotted them, they could always tell him that the shop didn't have what they want and are about to head back to Beacon. Knowing him, he'll be gullible enough to believe them.

It didn't take too long until the last contender gave up by clapping his hands to signal that he can go no further. It was kind of disappointing to see no one last long enough for time to run out.

"And that is it, ladies and gentlemen! Youth has proven itself a formidable adversary as the young lad takes the crown!" the announcer shouted. The audience only proved to be louder as they cheered, team RBY included.

"As if it was a contest to begin with." Weiss muttered with a sweatdrop. While no one else knew Luffy, she expected it to end like this.

"Ugh... I think I'm stuffed for once." Luffy groaned as he patted his round belly, ignoring the cheers. He only participated because of the food, not for the prizes or the attention. If he was going to fight a terrorist organization, he needed to be full on energy.

Before Luffy could notice their presence, team RWBY left the scene.

"Those poor guys never stood a chance!" Yang commented, earning nods from her team. If they knew that Luffy was competing in a eating contest, they would've bet their money on him to make a quick buck.

"It was a nice distraction, but we're still no where closer to finding any leads as to where they'll strike next." Blake pointed out, causing the others to slump. They forgot that they had a reason for coming here, and now they're running out of time.

"Where who will strike next?" another voice came from behind them. The four nearly jumped out of their skin from being startled by the newcomer. They spun on their heel to see the stowaway from the other day. Seeing the monkey faunus brought some bad memories within the girls. Blake tried to defend this guy from Weiss, which lead to the dispute that eventually revealed Blake's identity.

"None of your business!" the girls yelled in unison.

"Huh? I never heard of a group called 'none of your business'." his joke fell on deaf ears as they brushed him off and continued down the street.

"Come on, guys. Don't be like that. I just want to help you with whatever is bothering you." he quickly caught up to them and pleaded for them to accept his assistance. Sensing sincerity in his words, Ruby had to stop and contemplate whether or not to hear him out. Her team stopped alongside her with raised brows.

The redhead just couldn't stay mean to someone like that. It wasn't like he meant to drive a wedge between Weiss and Blake. Plus, he's been around Vale long enough to hear something about the robberies by now. He sure is nosy enough to eavesdrop.

"If you really want to help, where would you go if you wanted to steal Dust?" Ruby inquired. One brow was raised for a moment before the other followed suit.

"Oh! So you're after those guys!" he figured out. Now that he thought about it, it should've been obvious with the weapons they carry.

"Are you going to contribute or not!?" Weiss grew impatient with his shenanigans.

"Easy, Ice Queen. I heard some guys mention a shipment coming in. We're talking huge shipping containers straight from Atlas." the monkey faunus informed. The girls looked to each other and nodded, feeling that this is the break they're looking for.

"Where?" Blake asked.

"They're gonna bring it to the docks. All gift wrapped for anyone other than their rightful owners." Sun joked.

"Thanks for the help, uhh..." Ruby wanted to give some gratitude, but she can't remember a time that he gave his name.

"Oh, it's Sun. Sun Wukong." he finally gave his name. For added measure, he thrown a wink Blake's way when he said his full name. Yang leans in towards her partner's ear when she sees this.

"You sure have a way with the bad boys." Yang whispered to the cat faunus, earning a small groan from her.

"Shut up." was all she had to say. First there was Adam, who's pretty much a crazy ex-boyfriend at this point. Now she's crushing over a former pirate while a stowaway is trying to flirt with her.

Team RWBY tried to leave Sun in favor of their new destination, but the monkey faunus had other plans as he sped around them and cut the girls off.

"Whoa whoa whoa! You didn't think I was going to sit this one out after telling you guys, did you?" he wondered with crossed arms. He couldn't live with himself if he left them without backup.

"This has nothing to do with you!" Weiss rebuked. While her relationship with Blake is under repairs, she still has misgivings for trusting this guy.

"Really? Because everyone seems to think that it's the White Fang behind the robberies. And whatever they do reflects on other faunus, so it _does_ involve me. Besides, I never really liked those guys and their holier-than-thou attitude." Sun countered. Blake grimaced at this, unable to deny his words. Despite the crimes they committed, they believe that they're the ones delivering justice.

Ruby cocked her head to the side, curious as to how he's so confident about fighting terrorists. Any normal person would think twice before going against them unless they're...

"Are you... a huntsman?" she asked. Sun grinned at the question.

"Yup!" he said before reaching for his back and pulling out what looks to be four rods stuck together. He unfolds it to reveal a red bo staff with gold detailings.

Seeing the transforming weapon proved to them that he is indeed a huntsman in training like them. Ruby had stars in her eyes as she ogled the weapon in his possession.

"Omigosh! Can I hold it!?" in a burst of rose petals, the weapon nut was suddenly in front of him with an expression that reminds them of a puppy wagging its tail in excitement. Sun was caught off guard by her behavior before looking toward her teammates, who made a united gesture to reassure him that she won't try anything funny.

She may not be able to control herself around weapons, but she at least has a moral code when it comes to someone else's weapon.

Ruby took the weapon into both of her hands as soon as he held it out to her. Her eyes scanned the entire staff with interest, seeking to discover its other functions.

"Whoa. It started out as four separate segments, so that could mean that each pair come together. Possibly into nunchuks. The ends are hollow, so I can only guess that they are also guns that shoot in conjunction with your swings like Ember Celica. Lever action would've been your best bet to load each shot. It has some weight to it, which is good since you don't want to damage the gun barrel with every blow. It also makes it sturdy enough to withstand heavy hits." Ruby rambled on about the details of the weapon.

Sun's jaw dropped as this little girl learned the ins and outs of his weapon in less than a minute. As weird as her quirk is, it's still impressive. He was only further stunned when she twirled it around with ease before she held it across her back. Little does he know that she wields a scythe, which is basically a staff with a curved blade at the end. Polearms may as well be her specialty.

"Thanks a lot, Sun! I really needed a pick me up after everything that has happened. Okay team, we're off to the docks!" Ruby chirped, feeling more energetic than she had been in the last couple days. Sun nodded dumbly as he took back his weapon and followed the four girls.

Badass comes in all shapes and sizes, it seems.

While the five are headed for the docks, Luffy took a nap on a bench to sleep off the food he devoured. His belly was no longer bloated while he had a snot bubble fluctuating with his breathing. A few people gave him weird looks as they walked past him.

That is until Penny loomed over his sleeping form. The curious girl stared at him for a bit before she poked his cheek.

"Hm?" she tilted her head in confusion as the inside of his cheek reached the other side of his open mouth. She doesn't recall cheeks stretching that far. The snot bubble popped suddenly, causing Luffy to slowly open his eyes to see Penny poking his cheek.

"Salutations, friend Luffy!" Penny greeted with a smile.

"Hi, Penny! You can just call me Luffy, though." Luffy noted. He sat up on the bench and stretched his arms up with a yawn.

"Yosh! Time to find a Dust store the White Fang would rob from and kick their ass!" Luffy declared as his fist met his palm, not paying any heed to the girl next to him.

"The White Fang? Why would you want to fight such a dangerous group on your own?" Penny asked. No matter how she looks at it, there doesn't seem to be any logic behind it. Things won't end well if he goes through with it.

"Hm? I didn't come here alone. Zoro was with me, but he got lost somewhere. I'm sure he'll find his way back, though. Either way, I'm not letting them get away with hurting Blake." Luffy said with resolve in his eyes.

From where he's standing, the White Fang betrayed her. While she held true to their old ideals, they idly tossed it aside like it was trash. Her ties to them are strong enough for her to speak in their defense in spite of the changes. But all she is doing is hurting herself by pulling the wool over her own eyes.

He also has his own stake in this. As a man that takes conviction very seriously, he'll show them that impossible ideals cannot be disposed of so easily.

Penny gasped at the mention of someone else she met.

"That's awful! How bad are her injuries? Did they hurt her because she's friends with a human?" her questions confused Luffy until he realized her mistake.

"What? They didn't hurt her like that!" Luffy corrected.

"Then how is she hurt?" it was Penny's turn to be confused. He groaned at how clueless she is as he rubbed his temples.

"I mean she's hurt here!" Luffy jerked a thumb to his chest, gesturing to his heart. Things started to click for Penny as she had a look of realization. Of course she wouldn't understand that sort of pain because she never experienced it herself, what with the way she is.

"So you think that defeating the White Fang will heal the wound in her heart?" Penny guessed, but Luffy shook his head.

"No." he admitted. He doesn't consider himself good at mending wounds or fixing things. His actions solve the immediate problem in exchange for new ones in the aftermath. But those new problems never made him regret his actions.

Penny was about to wonder why he's doing it if he knows it's not going to help, Luffy beat her to it.

"I'm not just going to defeat them... I'm going to bring them back to square one!" he proclaimed, earning a raised brow from the girl.

"Square one?"

"Yeah! I'll bring back the White Fang that Blake supported, the one that she'll defend without hurting herself. But to do that, I need to fight them until they give up on violence." Luffy said.

If they're going to change from peace to violence, then he'll have to flip it in reverse by crushing their will to conquer. He'll keep fighting until they had enough, just like how they gave up on peace in the first place.

"Then I'm going to help you. I mean, that's what friends do for each other as far as I know." Penny declared, feeling a bit inspired by him. Who wouldn't after seeing how far he would go for one person. Luffy gives a toothy grin at the thought of her volunteering simply because they're friends.

"Yup!" he agreed with her statement. The two starts to take note of how their surroundings are taking an orange hue due to the sunset. They don't have much time left until the White Fang make their move, or to search for Zoro.

"It's getting late. We should head for the docks." Penny suggested.

"Huh, why?" Luffy asked as he crossed his arms and tilted his head in confusion.

"Dust shops need to be resupplied at some point, and shipments tend to come in by cargo ship. If we're lucky, there should be several stores worth of Dust waiting at the docks right now." Penny explained to Luffy, who just realized where she was getting at.

"Ehh! Then they would steal the Dust before it becomes the stores' Dust!" Luffy figured out the rest. It wouldn't matter which stores he waited for them at, they never would've arrived since they're stealing the Dust before it gets delivered.

After Penny nodded at the statement, the two left for the docks. They had no luck finding the green haired swordsman on the way as the sky grew dark and the shattered moon rose over the horizon.

As the docks came into view, Luffy sensed multiple presences in that direction. When he looked toward the source, he spotted a bullhead ready to land. Penny was more focused on the cargo containers stacked on top of each other.

They weren't the only ones there as team RWBY and Sun had a view of everything from the roof of the warehouse.

"Looks like they're taking the bait." Yang commented. Blake watched with bated breath for the bullhead to land and drop off the ones responsible for the thefts. Meanwhile, Weiss was glaring daggers at the monkey faunus munching on an apple he stole.

"Ruby, could we please do something about him?" she begged her leader to take action against the thief next to them. The red tipped girl sighed in exasperation.

"It's gonna be between apples or Dust, so take your pick." Ruby's tone of annoyance wasn't missed by the heiress. She doesn't have the time to deal with every little complaint, especially when they have a bigger problem in front of them.

The hatch soon opened, revealing henchmen armed with rifles and swords. Blake frowned when she saw the grimm masks along with the familiar insignia on the back of their white vests.

"I guess this proves it then. You gonna be okay?" Yang asked her partner in concern.

"Yeah..." Blake's voice came out soft as she started to accept the reality of the situation. The White Fang that she used to believe has never felt so far away until now.

"What's the hold up, people! We don't have all day!" a voice was heard among the henchmen. Silver eyes widened at the familiar voice as she turned her attention to the source.

"T-Torchwick!?" Ruby astonishment soon reached her teammates. Blake was surprised to hear the name. Just like her leader said, the orange haired villain was seen giving orders to the White Fang grunts.

Standing next to him is a large man with dark skin, a black beard, big lips, and black bull horns on the sides of his head. He wears a two-piece suit with a sweater undershirt. His face shows no emotional expression, which only unnerves her.

Something was wrong with this picture. There was no way that the White Fang would work together, especially with a human like _that_. And she has not once met a member that wore a black suit like the bull faunus.

'Is he a Cipher Pol agent?' she thought. It was the only way to explain it since she's never heard of the group of assassins until Zoro arrived.

Sun had long finished his apple and spied on the thieves along with the girls. That is until something else crossed the corner of his vision.

"Isn't that the guy that tried to tackle me?" he wondered out loud as he spotted the straw hat kid from the other day. He soon saw the orange haired girl from the same day.

"Isn't that the girl that he tackled instead?" his second question made the girls' wonder what he's babbling on about. Their gaze lowered until their eyes widened at the sight of Luffy and Penny casually approached their target.

"Luffy... and Penny?" Ruby raised a brow in confusion of the latter's presence.

"W-Why is he here?" Blake muttered in shock. Thinking back on it, they never knew why Luffy and Zoro were armed and ready to fight back on the bullhead.

It still didn't make sense to her. What reason would Luffy have for picking a fight with the White Fang? She doubts that he would get lost and wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time. This was too much of a coincidence.

Deciding that standing here wasn't going to give her answers, the former terrorist dropped down from the roof and tailed behind the duo. Her movements were so quiet that her team was unable to get a word of protest out by the time they noticed that she left.

Sun watched on as the cat faunus left to catch up with the boy. It made him a bit jealous to see her concerned for the kid's wellbeing rather than his.

This wasn't missed by Yang as she looked between the two. While she would like Blake to get together with Luffy, she can't sabotage Sun's chances with her. Who Blake falls for in the end is ultimately her choice, even if it means that her ship won't sail.

Either Blake manages to get her feelings through to Luffy, or Sun captures her heart. It all depends on how deep her feelings are for the rubberman.

"Guess we'll have to follow along with her." Ruby said, earning nods from the others before dropping down to ground level. They caught up to the amber eyed girl and saw her peeking around the corner where Luffy went. At least she's trying to remain hidden to keep the element of surprise. Knowing him, he'll confront them head on without any regard to stealth.

Penny took a quick look behind herself as she thought that someone followed them. After seeing nothing, she turned back to the path ahead of her. Luffy's eyes narrowed as the White Fang grunts came into view.

"Oy!" his shout caught their attention. Not a moment later, two arms stretched out and grabbed two of the grunts by their faces and reeled them in towards Luffy. The rest had their guns pointed at him, but couldn't risk hitting their comrades.

They didn't have to worry about that for long as Luffy slammed both heads into the ground, leaving a crater for each of them. Everyone that witnessed it were shocked for varying reasons, his rubber body being the most common.

"What in the world was that!?" Sun demanded an answer from the girls as they didn't seem so surprised, but they ignored his shock.

"So your body is stretchy..." Penny muttered in confirmation as she recalled how she poked his cheek in so far. So it wasn't just his cheek, but his whole body.

She was broken out of her thoughts when Roman spoke up.

"Fancy meeting you here, Straw Hat." Luffy perked up at the voice.

"Girly Man?" he quirked a brow at him, earning snorts from the grunts.

"Why do you keep calling me that!?" he shouted with shark teeth. Penny tilted her head from side to side as she stared at his face.

"You know, he does look very feminine for someone that's male." she commented, causing Roman to growl at the two. Luffy looked to the side and spotted a familiar face, making him raise his guard.

"I figured you'd be here." Luffy stated, keeping his eyes on the bull faunus. The grunts were confused at this, wondering how they know each other. Luffy's reaction solidified Blake's earlier claim about him being a Cipher Pol agent.

"He seems really disciplined compared to everyone else." Weiss whispered to the others, still hiding around the corner with them. The grunts looked too unorganized to be professional, as if they were recently recruited. But that bull faunus had an aura of professionalism, similar to how her sister behaves.

"Aren't we going to help them? They're outnumbered." Sun pointed out as he saw the two get surrounded by the grunts.

"Those guys are not the problem. He is though." Ruby said as her eyes narrowed at the agent. They have to bide their time and wait for an opportunity to ambush him.

Penny looked around to see nothing but enemies on all sides. In the end, her gaze was focused on the one man that earned a reaction from her friend.

"What purpose could you possibly have for being here, Straw Hat?" the bull faunus finally spoke in a deep voice. While he'll admit that Lucci was right on the money, it's not like the boy to just involve himself without having reasons of his own.

The boy didn't say anything, instead he lets out a burst of Conqueror Haki in the middle of the crowd. He paid no heed to the number of White Fang members that collapsed with foam in their mouths. Roman felt a strong pressure try to crush his mind as his arm visibly shook, much to his confusion. He's getting really tired of this kid pulling these tricks out of nowhere.

Penny blinked owlishly at the sight of the cannon fodder as they fell unconscious, while Sun eyes turned into dinner plates in astonishment.

'Who is this guy!' the monkey faunus wondered to himself.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to kick your ass and bring you guys back to square one!" the former Pirate King declared once more, now with more people in earshot. While the bull faunus narrowed his eyes at the threat, Roman laughed at the insane boy. Meanwhile, Blake and the rest of her group were having a hard time understanding what he meant by that.

'His intentions are similar to that of Dragon's.' the bullman thought.

"You're here to pick a fight with these guys? As fancy as that trick is, it's not gonna be enough to take all of them out." Roman tried to burst his bubble.

"So what? I can still use my fists, dumbass. As long as they keep doing these things, Blake can't move forward with her dream." Luffy stated, shocking Roman as he's fighting for one person. Little did he know that Adam was also in hiding as he said that. The red haired man froze at the mention of his darling. He's glad that he took it upon himself to kill the troublemaker because now it has become personal.

"H-Huh?" Blake most definitely heard that with her cat ears, said appendages standing tall. The mere notion of him fighting an entire organization specifically for her brought a bright blush to her face. She doesn't even notice the shocked reactions looking her way. Even Yang's finger failed to get her attention as the blonde kept poking the side of her head with a wry grin.

They were too caught up with what he said to notice him draw Soul Solid and lower himself into a stance, activating the musician bond.

"Lets go, Penny! **Gavotte Bond en Avant** ( _Gavotte: Leap Forward_ )!" he called out before lunging at Roman, his sword poised to strike. The criminal raised his cane to block the attack, thankful that the boy wasn't moving so fast this time.

"I don't think it's wise to call out your attacks, Straw Hat." Roman commented. While Luffy's eye twitched in annoyance, team RWBY paled as they found another fool that poked fun of his habit.

"What's wrong, girls?" Sun asked with a raised brow, curious as to why they look scared.

The agent saw an opportunity as Luffy was preoccupied with his human ally.

" **Soru** ( _Shave_ )"

In disappearing speeds similar to Luffy's Second Gear, the former agent appeared next to Luffy with a finger pointed at his head.

" **Shigan** ( _Finger Pistol_ )"

Before the large man's finger could connect, he saw small beams in the corner of his vision. He blurred out of place again to dodge the beams, leaving him to stare at the shooter.

Penny returned his gaze as several swords hovered around her, some of them folded to look more gun-like.

"S-So cool!" Luffy exclaimed with starry eyes as he saw her weapons.

"Pay attention, idiot!" Roman shouted before trying to move away. Luffy refused to let him get away and used his free hand to grab his cane. If there was one thing he learned about Remnant's fighters, it's that they cling to their weapons like a lifeline. They have no right to complain about their obvious flaw if they're gonna make fun of him calling out attacks.

"I don't have time for you, Girly Man. You're not really important." Luffy's comment caused a vein to pop on Roman's head. The former pirate pulled the cane towards him, making Roman stumble forward. He then imbued Armament into his leg and swung it upward. Hard.

His blackened toes connected to the man's family jewels, causing the man to double over with his eyes rolled back. The girls cringed at the painful blow while Sun turned white as a ghost. Ruby soon realized that they haven't made their move yet and Penny is fighting a Cipher Pol agent on her own. She doesn't know how strong the orange haired girl is, but she can't help but worry.

Speaking of her, Penny was doing well so far as she's keeping the bull faunus at bay. Half of her weapons were in sword form, guarding her in case he got too close. The other half were in gun form as they kept shooting at him from all directions. Unfortunately, none of the shots were hitting their mark as he uses Shave to dodge them.

Despite how annoying this is, the large man kept a calm demeanor as he strategized on his next move. These green beams remind him of the Pacifista's lasers, so he doubts Iron Body would protect him from the energy shots. Which leaves him with the one place where they can't reach him.

" **Air Door** "

He formed a door within the air itself and opened it to reveal what looks like a pocket dimension. He leapt through the door and closed it behind himself, leaving Penny befuddled with what she witnessed. She has never seen anything like that before.

She scanned her surroundings, but found no sign of the man. It's as if he disappeared from the face of Remnant. She concludes that if it really was a door, then it should still function like one. He entered that weird space through one, so he'll have to form another one to come back. It's only a matter of where.

She pulled the guns to her back when she heard a door open above her. Beams shot out to improvise a thruster and launch her forward to dodge the incoming punch.

The Cipher Pol agent growled as his fist hit nothing but the concrete, leaving a small crater. A yellow blur flew straight at him before he could react. Ember Celica collided with the side of his face, earning a grin from Yang. The blonde brawler launched him away, to which he righted himself and skidded to a halt.

"Now what?" he asked no one in particular as he glared into lilac eyes. Behind the blonde stood Ruby and Sun side by side with their respective weapons dug into the concrete, each of them connected by a black ribbon courtesy of Blake.

"Dude, this slingshot idea is so awesome!" Sun praised the improvised weapon, earning a bashful look from Ruby.

"Focus, you two!" Weiss berated them from further back with Blake next to her. Penny beamed at the four friendly faces.

"Ruby!" she exclaimed in a jovial tone. Luffy perked up when he heard his cousin's name. Roman was sprawled out on the ground beneath him with his feminine face beaten to a pulp. He runs to where Penny shouted from and finds out that she wasn't kidding.

"Huh? What are you guys doing here? And why is Winking Guy here, too?" he tilted his head in confusion of the group. Sun slumps at the weird nickname he was given. Blake, however, walks up to him fuming.

"I should be asking you that! What possessed you into doing this without any of us knowing!?" Blake yelled close to his face. She already heard why he's here, and it is touching for him to go that far for her. But for him to do it without her knowledge and endanger himself scares her. The whole thing is making her feel pathetic. Here Luffy is, fighting what should've been her fight. He's actually trying to do something about the White Fang, while she has yet to make any strides herself.

"Oh! Can I fight the White Fang, then?" Luffy asks with a grin on his face, oblivious to how upset she is.

"It's a little too late for that!" Everyone except Penny shouted with shark teeth. The bull faunus simply stood there as they argued amongst themselves. He looks to the side to see the master thief defeated. He should've known that Roman couldn't handle the Straw Hat captain.

"Looks like you're all on your own, Blueno." another voice pointed out. Everyone turned their attention towards the new voice and found two men side by side.

One of them was Adam, who caused Blake's blood to run cold. She never thought that he would be present. She's not mentally prepared to fight him. not within the short span of time since she left.

Next to him was a tall man that the girls almost mistaken for Usopp. Looking more carefully, they see that his long nose is rectangular in shape. He wears a suit similar to the man named Blueno, with the addition of a black cap that has... giraffe horns sticking out?

This was new to even Sun and Blake, and they're both faunus.

"You can thank Straw Hat for that, Kaku." the bull man named Blueno said, not even bothering to look at his two colleagues. Adam ignored their conversation in favor of Blake, who flinched back when he grinned at her.

"I'm very disappointed in you, my love. Getting help from humans, have you no shame." his tone came out as if he was scolding her. Her friends' eyes widened at how he addressed her, wondering if she had a relationship with this guy. Blake gritted her teeth at her former comrade.

"Look who's talking! You enlisted the help of Torchwick of all people!" she countered with heated words, earning a scoff from Adam.

"He is merely a disposable tool, a useless one at that. We will use whatever tools at our disposal in order to achieve our Dark Justice." his speech earned some glares, not liking the idea of this Dark Justice. Extremist truly is the apt word to describe them, much to Blake's reluctance.

"In any event, it looks like Lucci was right about you. You really are trouble." Adam concluded as he shifted his gaze towards Luffy. The boy quirked a brow at the name.

"So Pigeon Guy is here too?" Luffy questioned, surprising Adam. But when he thought about it, it would make sense that there's a connection between the two if Lucci acknowledges the hindrance without meeting him.

"Your only concern should be me. Blueno, Kaku, leave this one to me." Adam said, focusing on the straw hat kid.

"I guess that leaves us with these children. It's a shame that the Pirate Hunter isn't here, but they'll have to do." Kaku sighed. Nonetheless, he hopes that they would make things interesting.

"It doesn't matter who we have to fight. Anyone that opposes us will be eliminated." Blueno stated.

Team RWBY, Sun, and Penny prepared themselves against the former assassins. It will be rough for Sun and Penny since they don't know anything about the Rokushiki.

As Adam readied himself, Luffy took out Black Kabuto and fitted a fire Dust pellet in it.

"Are you mocking me!?" Adam snarled at the weapon he chose. Luffy gave a mischievous grin before he aimed the slingshot straight into the air.

" **Hi no Tori Boshi** ( _Fire Bird Star_ )"

The pellet was let loose into the air, transforming into a huge phoenix as it ascended into the night sky. Adam couldn't make sense of the attack as it did nothing in particular other than that. Unless...

His eyes widen at the clever idea of using the flaming bird as a signal for whoever sees it.

"If you think help will come before your death, your sorely mistaken." Adam rebuked. Luffy puts away the slingshot before taking Soul Solid out and imbuing the blade with Armament, all while having a confident grin that ticks the redhead off.

"I won't be taken down so easily." was all Luffy said before entering Second Gear and charging at Adam with his enhanced speed. Being trained by Cipher Pol had its benefits, however, as Adam easily blocked the strike.

As the battle just commenced, Zoro was trying to find Luffy until he caught sight of the Fire Bird Star in the sky.

"Heh, so you started without me. You better take your time, Luffy" Zoro smirked. There better be someone left to fight when he gets there, otherwise his captain is going to get an earful for hogging it all.

Meanwhile, a robed man with a monkey tail stood on the rooftops and stared in the direction of the docks. His eyes may be shadowed by his hood, but there was no mistaking the small smile that graced his face.

He has a feeling he might actually get to see Luffy for once in his life.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **I'm sorry, but I'm going to stop here. Even after all the waiting you guys put up with, there's still hardly any fighting. So yeah, I pitted Luffy against Adam while the others handle CP9. Zoro will enter the fray soon enough, along with you know who.**

 **Next chapter will definitely be action-packed, so bear with me.**

 **Please leave votes and reviews for feedback.**


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